


Le Bon Temps

by Jazz_Jaide



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-05
Updated: 2013-12-05
Packaged: 2018-01-03 12:40:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 30,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1070563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jazz_Jaide/pseuds/Jazz_Jaide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione Granger was about to do the one thing that she never wanted to do- become someone else. She knew that she would have a hard life ahead of her, she did know, but she had to do what her best friend had asked her to do. She had to do this in memory of Harry and Ron. It was only right after all, they had passed away, before she even had the chance to say goodbye.HG/SB/RL trio</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

“Hermione,” I heard a voice speak above me and I jolt back into reality. I look up into the red eyes of Molly and realize that I have a sinking feeling in my stomach. “Something has happened.” I mark the page that I’m on before shakily standing up.  
Wordlessly, I follow her into the hallway and down the corridor. We enter the kitchen and I instantly hear sobs and whimpers. My eyes instinctively slam shut as I feel a warm hand grasp my own as whoever it is pulls me further into the room.  
“Mione, open your eyes.” Fred whispers miserably and I feel tears beginning to build up before I even crack my eyelids open. A gasp fills my mouth and I cover my face with my hands instantly. He was there, Harry had been found. His lips were a pale purple and his face was badly bruised. His shirt had been torn down the front and he had three gaping scratches on his chest: one could only assume what had caused them.  
“R-Ron?” I find myself whispering and I look down at my hands miserably as if I already knew the answer to my question.  
“O-Only his h-head!” Molly moans quietly and I start to feel lightheaded as I realize that I am the last remaining member of the Golden Trio.  
I silently turn around and with my eyes focused on the ground; I start to walk toward the only room that would give me any solace at all, the library. My trek up the stairs and down the hall felt as if had taken tediously drawn out hours instead of a few short minutes. Once there I melt onto the floor of the third aisle in the Black family library, it was an aisle that I would soon get accustomed to quickly.  
Xxx  
Hermione was completely fascinated by the concept of time travel and had taken to sitting in the large expanse of library within Grimmauld Place for weeks on end. Other than Kreacher, no one had bothered her and she didn’t really mind the quiet. In fact, she could think more rationally if she was by herself. When she as around her ‘friends’ and extended family, she tended to be more speculative and often jumped to conclusions. No, Hermione much rather preferred loneliness than the chance of haphazardly making a decision that could ultimately turn into a life choice.  
Well that is to say, she only wanted to be alone while reading. She absolutely abhorred the fact that while she stayed at Grimmauld Place, she had no one to share her findings with. That was the best part of learning something new after all! Being able to tell someone her new piece of information and having them comprehend it always made her day better. She hated how she was pretty much alone in the aspect of intellectual thinking anymore.  
Even worse, the feeling that Harry and Ron would never come to bother her again. They hadn’t even been gone more than two weeks when they had been found callously murdered. With her parents in hiding, Hermione couldn’t very well return to an empty house. So McGonagall had allowed her to stay in Grimmauld Place. The library had become her safe haven. She didn’t have to think about how her friends were dead. Her mind was much too occupied for those kind of thoughts.  
Xxx  
“Mione, if something ever happens to me, I need you to promise me something.” Harry states quietly and I turn from the fireplace to look at him.  
“Anything Harry.” I whisper to one of the only people I still had in the world.  
“Mione, ever since you started using your time turner you’ve been fascinated with going back in time. If something ever happens and you know for a fact that we are on the losing side of the war, I need you to do what you’ve always dreamt about.” His words confused me for a moment and I just sat there and stared at him for a while.  
“Harry?” I ask uncertainly, confusion lacing my voice.  
“Mione, you’ve got to go back in time and fix this. If you go back, I know you can get this figured out.” He says this so quietly that I have to lean in and strain myself to hear him.  
Xxx  
I stand in the doorway to the kitchen and watch as Molly stands in front of the stove. She was watching the stew boil, the image dug deep into my feelings. In the past, Molly was never seen standing still in the kitchen. Of course, only having three surviving children out of seven could completely change a person. No one was the same anymore. War changed a person. Ginny had gone missing three day ago; Fred would sit in front of the fireplace for hours without saying a word. I knew what I had to do and I knew that it would have to happen soon. The only problem was that I had only just worked out the effects of the ritual. When I made it to the past, I wouldn’t be able to come back to her time. Magic wouldn’t allow it to happen. So wherever Hermione Granger landed, then that would be she stayed for the rest of her living days. That wasn’t even the worst of it.  
If one was to go back ten or more years one would no longer exist. The person’s soul would experience transference to another vessel. They would take on a life that had previously ended to early. When this transference occurs, the soul’s future body or vessel would no longer exist. The soul would take on certain traits of the new vessel but would remember their past future’s life so that the soul would remain mostly the same.  
There was absolutely no way to know who I would become. So not only did I not know where I would land in time but I didn’t know who I would become. I was terrified, but I had no real cause to stay in the present. I had no surviving family, no friends; I had nothing to care for other than close family friends who would be better off if I completed the ritual.  
Xxx  
My books and research were strewn across the floor of the parlor, I had moved from the library to in here because I wanted to be near everyone as much as possible. The closer I got to doing the ritual, the more I wanted be forget about the entire idea. Molly, Fred, and I were the only ones in Grimmauld Place tonight, Arthur and Charlie had gone to collect more things from the burrow and planned on spending the night there. George was upstairs with Katie playing exploding snap in an attempt to get her mind off of the recent murder of her parents. Fred and I were the only ones in the parlor as I scribbled furiously into the margins of my notes; I wanted to get every detail of my plan down before I even tried the ritual. If I had a solid plan that I knew I could carry out, then I knew I wouldn’t be so worried about going through with the ritual.  
The scarlet and auburn flames that provided enough lighting to read by suddenly changed into the dark azure flames that symbolized when someone was coming through the fire. I wasn’t that worried though; only the remaining Order members and their families knew the password to the floo. Fred, on the other hand, immediately got to his feet with his wand out; he was more on edge than the rest of us for some reason. It wasn’t until I saw the familiar dirty blonde hair that I jumped up and rushed to the body that had landed quite hard on the floor. I knelt down beside his body and swallowed before rolling him over gently.  
“Oh, Malfoy.” I gasp quietly and see that he’s still alive and breathing. “Fred, get him a blanket will you?” I throw over my shoulder as I levitate him onto the couch.  
“C-cold.” He shudders as I sit on the edge of the couch performing warming spell after warming spell on his freezing body.  
“I’m trying Malfoy, give a girl a break eh?” I ask quietly even though I work my wand quicker and move closer to him.  
“Here, Mum’s coming with more.” Fred mummers and I watch him cover our enemy with two blankets as I finish healing him with a stabilizing street.  
“What happened?” I whisper to him after he gained his color back and looked a little more normal.  
“G-Granger. N-no.” Malfoy stutters and curiosity creeps back into my veins and I feel myself pursing my lips as I watch him.


	2. Chapter Two

“You’re up to something.” I hear a deep whisper in my ear and jerk, causing a line of ink to splatter across my notes, I frown at the line.   
“What do you mean Malfoy?” I ask quietly and he chuckles at me before sitting down on the floor besides my chair.   
“I can tell your up to something, you wouldn’t have all those pages full of scribbles if you weren’t up to something.” He smirks up at me as if he knew that he was annoying me, which he was, greatly.   
“I’m just studying, I love learning after all.” I sniff quietly and turn back to my reading in an attempt to blow him off.   
“You’re studying about time travel Granger, I’m no idiot.” He states and I feel myself go rigid with the knowledge that he might actually know what I’m doing.   
“I like learning about different concepts.” I mumble and look at the fireplace miserably, I hated when someone interrupted my reading.  
“You’re actually going to do it aren’t you?” he asks softly and I can’t find it within myself to reply to his question. “Merlin’s beard, Granger, you can’t go back in time!” Malfoy exclaims rather loudly and I flinch.   
“It won’t be so bad you know.” I whisper to him and finally look into his eyes; he blinks in surprise before continuing his reprimand.   
“What if you mess the entire timeline up? Granger, I know shit’s gone downhill, but if you go back in time then, you can undo your entire future.” He points out a reasonable conclusion and I shrug.   
“I really don’t have much of a future in this time anyway, my family is gone, my friends are dead, and everyone else is dying. If I stay here, I’ll die along with them.” I whisper the harsh truth to him and he flinches at my honestly.   
“You could miscalculate and end up in the wrong time.” It was to the point that he knew I had my mind set on doing it, he was just pointing out the flaws in my plan.   
“The ritual I’ll be doing doesn’t let me set a date; it sends me back to whenever I’m needed the most.” I whisper to him and he frowns quietly, “I’ll just have to prepare myself for anything.” I mumble to myself and nod when I think about all the extra things I would have to accomplish.   
“I don’t want you to go.” He says this very softly, almost too quiet for me to hear but I tense as I hear those words come out of his mouth.   
“What? I would’ve thought that you would be jumping at the chance to have me gone.” I snap and then regret saying it. “I have to go, it’s the only way that I could get make everything right again.” I sigh and drop my gaze back down to my hands.   
“If you’re gone then I’ll have no one to annoy, no one to talk too, everyone else is a ghost around here.” He whispers quietly and I frown softly at how correct he was in saying that.   
“Malfoy, I have to go, Harry made me promise I would if the Order began to lose the war.” I whisper and he frowns before turning from my eyes to look into the fireplace.   
“Let me come with you than Granger.” He says this as if he had already made his mind in the short two second pause within our conversation.


	3. Chapter Three

“I would rather you actually do some research.” I huff quietly as I reach for another book on the inner workings of time.   
“I am researching you nitwit.” Malfoy mutters but refuses to say anything else.   
“What then? Social aspects of the modern day?” I was quite proud of myself for the witty comeback that I had come up with.   
“No actually social aspects of history. We’re actually going to have to look the part Granger.” He snaps before looking up at me and smirking before going back to his reading.   
I sit in shock for a second before realizing that the blonde ferret had a very good point, we would have to study what was going on throughout history or we would be stuck in a bad place when we landed where we would end up. I blink before huffing once more in irritation that I was proven wrong before opening my new book and smelling one of my favorite smells in the whole world. The words sharpen on the page as I focus on the task at hand—trying to figure out where exactly we would land in the timeline.   
Someone who uses said ritual will not only experience a jump in time but a jump of vessels as well. If going more than ten years backwards, person or persons who have correctly completed said ritual will experience soul transference. The person/s soul will move into a weaker vessel that would eventually expire in the original timeline. Memories and attitudes will stay in place from both lives so that the time traveler would be able to acclimate successfully.   
My chest tightens as I read the paragraph once and then once more to make sure that I was reading it correctly. My eyes begin to blur as I force myself to stare at the words and catch myself before I begin to seriously choke for air.   
“What’s wrong with you Granger?” Malfoy snaps as I start coughing and the book falls to the ground as I fight myself for air.   
“We’re doomed.”  
Xxxx CHAPTER FOUR   
“I’m telling you Malfoy, I’ve already gotten the ritual figured out. There’s not enough time to start all over again.” I hiss at him as I throw myself down in front of the fire so that I could get warm.   
“So your telling me that you’re having panic attacks about something that we have no control over and that we have no way of fixing?” Malfoy states and I frown at him, my eyes immediately squinting just that extra little bit in order to give him a fierce glare.   
“Yes.” I mutter and he chuckles before going quiet again, I hear the scratching of the quill and know that he must be finishing his notes.   
“I’m nearly finished. I’ve compiled a list of everyone in the past fifty years that died before they were adults and circled the ones that we are most alike.” He states and hands me the list before coming to sit beside me in front of the fire.   
“I’m not seeing anyone that could potentially help us fix the problem.” I sigh to him before reading over the list once more; I could barely see anyone that I had heard of let alone someone that could make an impact.   
“Anyone that we turn into could help us; we just have to play our cards very carefully.” Draco reminds me and I nod imperceptibly.  
“Of course, but to be honest it would be amazing if fate had a helping hand in the matter.” I whisper to myself and sigh once more before closing my eyes.   
“Fate is a fickle bitch sometimes.” Malfoy mummers quietly and I nod not really knowing if he had seen the gesture.   
“What if we get in the past and something goes horribly wrong and we just have to live our lives out without ever being able to fix anything?” I ask so quietly that I’m surprised that he had even heard me.   
“Then we’ll live our lives knowing that we at least tried to repair an unfixable problem in the magical world.” Malfoy whispers back, “besides, the past has to be better than here.” He adds and I whimper as I realize what he’s saying.   
Everyone that had died in our present, would, could, still have a normal life if we made it to the past and changed enough things in the timeline. If we could just figure out what had to happen, then we could save our loved ones. Yet, what it came down to is whether or not we could change anything in the past at all. I had a strong feeling that I could do it, but I would have to work extremely hard at it. My life would be at risk if I changed to many things, but without my life being at risk, then I wouldn’t be able to save anyone at all. It was such a horrible place to be in altogether.   
“I don’t want to go back in time knowing that I might very well forget why we came.” I admit to him, I may have hated his guts, but he was the only person that seemed sane in the house.   
“So bring something that would remind you from this present to the past with you. That way you can look at that one object and remember why you did it.” He offers a good point and I bite my lip as I realize that even that small of a task, choosing one object to remember my entire life by would be so hard to do.   
“Nothing’s good enough to remember my parents and everyone else that I lost.” I whisper and I feel him lying down beside me, shoulder to shoulder, and for some reason it wasn’t awkward at all.   
“What about a charm bracelet then? You could attach a charm for every little memory that you wanted to remember specifically.” He proposes the idea reluctantly, as if it would be immediately shot down.   
“I like it, but it would take so much time.” I mummer to him and he shrugs so that I feel it against my own shoulder.   
“I could help, if you tell me the object than I could conjure a charm. It shouldn’t take longer than half hour.” He whispers and I open my eyes quietly before turning my head to stare at him.   
“Why would you want to help me so bad?” I ask him softly and he turns to stare into my eyes before answering.   
“It’s because I have no one left. You’re the only thing in this reality that helps me keep sane.” He admits gently and I bite my lip quietly.   
“It’s the same for me. When Ginny disappeared I was pretty much left alone. No one wants to be around the girl who reminds them of the two fallen heroes.” I sigh and turn over so that I’m on my stomach.   
“I do.” His words seem to strike deep down into my heart and I whimper as I realize what he’s saying.   
I choose not to reply, mainly from the fact that I had no idea what to say, let alone how to say it. A moment later his fingers begin to trace my back slowly and I shiver from the lightness of his touch. I sigh quietly and let his fingers roam my back for a small moment before speaking up.   
“Malfoy?” I whisper quietly and barely bother to wait until he replies, “I want to experience something before we perform the rituals.” I admit to him and the motions of his fingers stops for a second before continuing.   
“What do you mean?” his voice had gotten lower for some reason and I find myself having a hard time finding the words.   
“I don’t want to leave my body as a virgin.” I whisper to him and feel him tense up beside me, his fingers lifted from my back for a second and I whimper as I begin to wonder if I had made the correct choice in telling him.


	4. Chapter Four

“Granger—what are you saying?” Malfoy’s voice is filled with trepidation that I’ve never heard him use before.   
“I want to feel… I want to experience it in my body.” I sigh to him before sitting up and forcing myself to stand. “It’s okay though, I understand why you wouldn’t want too, it’s not like I’m anyone anyways.” I pick my notes without another word and leave before he has the chance to reply.   
It wasn’t until later that night that I had finally calmed down enough from my feeling sorry for myself that I could focus on getting what I needed to done, done. I finished folding the clothes that I wanted to definitely take with me and changed into my pajamas before crawling into my bed. I get comfortable under the sheets and I’m even slipping into sleep when the door creaks open. I whimper quietly, not bothering to turn over when I knew that it was probably Molly come to check that I was still alive. The doors hinges groan as it shuts and I breathe out softly as I snuggle into my pillow.   
“Granger?” his voice shocks me to my core and I freeze as my heart begins to hammer out of my chest. “Granger? Are you awake?” his fingers touch my arm slowly and I whimper before opening my eyes.   
“What is it Malfoy?” I whisper and his fingers disappear for a moment and a moment later he sits by my waist, his weight causing my body to turn slightly towards him because of the light mattress.   
“You’re someone to me.” He says this softly but I can hear him and I bite my lip in response, it was not what I expected after all.   
“What about it then?” I whimper and a hand on my shoulder tells me that he wants me to turn over and look at him; I do as his body language asks.   
“If we do this, it’ll never be the same.” His voice is a bit lower but I can tell that he’s trying to be as reserved as possible able the entire situation.   
“You’re the only one that I can imagine doing this with. The only one that I would consider in this reality....” I admit quietly and his eyes skim my face, checking to see if there was any un-honesty.  
“If this is you wish before we leave Hermione, than it is my command.” He states this quietly as if he didn’t believe that he was actually saying the words.   
“Are you sure that you want to do this, that you’re willing to do this with me?” I ask him and he gives me a half-smile.   
“I’m surer then when Merlin thought he had discovered the way to transfigure food.” He whispers and I bite my lip in order to stop myself from smiling.   
Xxx CHAPTER SIX  
“That’s great then.” I whisper and the outer edges of his lips quirk up into his customary smirk as he stands up.   
I watch with wary eyes as he reaches down and pulls the comforter from around my body, exposing the fact that I only had a camisole and shorts on. I can feel myself starting to blush as his eyes look me up and down for a quick second before leaning over me. Instinctively, my eyes shut and I feel his lips brush my own gently. I breathe in as he presses himself harder against me, incidentally opening my mouth as I did so. He took the opportunity to taste as he flicked his tongue gently into the opening. I feel myself letting go against him, realizing that Malfoy was taking his time helped me greatly. One of his hands comes up to my cheek and holds my head in place as the kissing intensifies. Blast it all, Lavender was right when she said that he was an excellent kisser. His teeth scrap my bottom lip as he pulls away and I find myself whimpering.   
“Granger, just how quickly do you want this to be over with?” he asks me and my eyes flicker open as I feel his breath against my ear.   
“I… I’m not really sure. I hadn’t thought about it. I just want it to be perfect.” I mummer and he laughs quietly at me, which causes my cheeks to go an even deeper red.   
“The great bookworm finally didn’t think something through.” He snickers and I whimper in his ear and nudge my nose against his ear. “More then?” he teases before his lips consume mine with an intensity that I’d never experienced.   
This kiss was nothing like the first; it was fiery, passionate, and reckless. I loved every second of it. I lost myself in the way that his lips overpowered my own, dominating me in the smallest but best way. His other hand—the other one that wasn’t holding my face—creeps across my stomach and up my side causing me to shiver in the best way. It was insane just how quickly he caught on to what I liked. My camisole begins to inch up my stomach slowly and I realize that in just a moment, I would be completely topless. Malfoy feels me falter and pauses for just a second before kissing me with even harder than before. It was like he was trying to distract me from my own thoughts; I mentally thanked him for it.   
He pulls away for a moment to pull my nightshirt over my head before pulling his own off; I breathe in as he climbs over me and kisses me much softer. My hands come up to wrap around his neck as he kisses me gently, his tongue dancing with my own. His lips fall from mine onto my chin, planting kisses in a haphazard line all the way to my shoulder before coming back to the beginning. Without even realizing that I was doing it, I arch against him and he groans quietly. I sigh against him as his hand wanders to my shorts and I allow him to pull away from me once more in order to pull them down. He comes back to my lips once more, kissing them softer than ever before. I whine quietly as he drops his head down to my chest, my hands splay out across the mattress as his lips wander to my breasts. Delicious chills race through my body as he focuses on my left nipple before changing sides and doing the exact same ministrations on the other side.   
My hands grip the sheets as he starts kissing his way lower, down my naval and to my waist, kissing my belly button gently on the way down. I watch dizzily as he crooks his thumbs into my underwear before pulling them off of me completely and then I was completely nude. Not that it bothered me for very long, his lips crept down to my thighs before I could even tense up. I whimper quietly as he gets closer to where no one’s been before and I grip the sheets tighter as he kisses right beside it.   
A moment later, pure ecstasy bubbles up in my stomach as his lips connect with my most sensitive area. A moan escapes as my hips arch against him as his tongue begins to explore down there. It was like something had cleared my mind of all the things that were in it, only to fill the empty spaces with pure pleasure. I begin to moan louder as my stomach begins to tighten and his ministrations only quicken. I felt like I was climbing an incredibly steep hill—with the knowledge that when I reached the top—the fall would be the best part. It was. When I fell, when my world burst, it was the most amazing thing. My entire body shook as I was overcome with a new sensation and I knew that I had just experienced my first orgasm.   
My eyes stay closed as I try to remember how to breathe correctly, but I didn’t have the time to collect myself before Malfoy’s lips covered mine once more. One would only thing that I would object to him kissing me after he had just down what he did, but I was far past caring at that moment. I only wanted to feel that sensation of falling all over again. I kiss him back even harder, arching my body against his, in the hopes that he would understand the message. His lips lift off of mine for a moment to mumble a spell and barely a second later—his clothes were gone. I moan quietly as I feel him against me for the first time and he breathes in quickly.   
“Now?” he asks me, his tone practically begging me to let him in already.   
“Now.” I consent softly and he answers me by kissing my lips hard enough to bruise them, not that it mattered right now.   
He lifts his body off of me for a second, aligning himself with my own, and I allow him to pull my legs apart as he positions himself. He settles against me slowly, kissing me gently before raising himself up once more and pushing himself inside. A burst of pain surges through my waist, but it is only for a second. I return his kiss gently: it was a way to let him know to continue. A few short rocking moments later, the pain is completely gone and I find myself arching against him once more. I begin to moan against his lips as he increases his speed, the climb was starting all over again. My hands find their home wrapped around his back, my nails biting into the skin of his back as he begins to thoroughly push into me. I was so close to my own personal edge, I couldn’t contain the noises I was making as he only speeds up more. It takes barely a moment more before I fall, beginning to shake even harder than the first time. He groans against me, continuing to surge into me as I quiver underneath him. A warm sensation fills my lower stomach and I whimper against him as he slows down—only pumping twice more before stopping completely.   
He lies on top of me for a moment and I am perfectly content with the position, he was still inside of me and I knew that the second that he pulled away that I would feel empty. Nevertheless, he does roll off of me, only to pull me into his chest. I snuggle into his arm, fitting almost perfectly into the spot, before feeling him kiss the top of my head gently.   
“Amazing, Hermione, that’s what you are.” He whispers and I whimper quietly as I try to push even closer against him, finally settling on wrapping a leg around his own and cuddling him closely.


	5. Chapter Five

I wake up to deafening screams and instantly adrenaline floods my body. I’m out of bed and have clothes spelled on before it even sinks in as to what must be happening. I freeze in step as another scream tears through the house, this time a male’s. Arms wrap around my shoulders and turn me around slowly; I blink up at his steely eyes.   
“Granger, we’ve got to go. There’s no way that we can go out there and risk it.” He says this slowly as if he knew it would take me a moment to comprehend what he was saying.   
“What? We can’t just leave Malfoy! That’s my family out there!” I half-shriek at him and he flinches as he grips my chin, forcing me to actually look him in his eyes.   
“That family will die out completely unless we perform the ritual right now.” He says this forcefully and I whimper as I realize what he’s saying.   
“Ok. Ok. Let’s do this.” I close my eyes for a moment before snapping back to reality and turning around in his arms, basically forcing him to let go of me.   
I turn around and head towards my end table where my light purple clutch sat—walking quickly around the room as the volume of the screams increase. I pull the stuff out quickly: the ritual book, the small knife, and the time turner. I rush back over to Malfoy and open the book to the page that I had marked previously. It was a complex spell, but I knew I could do it, I just needed to concentrate. I glance at Malfoy before slinging the thin chain of the time turner over his head.   
“We need to cut our palms first, dripping each of our blood on the time turner. Then I’ll begin to read the chant and you need to spin the turner over fifteen times.” I instruct him and draw the knife up to my own palm.   
I brace myself, my face twisting into a grimace before the blade even slices into my skin. When it does I gasp softly, my teeth biting into my lower lip before hurriedly handing the knife over to Malfoy’s awaiting hand. I focus on lifting my aching palm to the small hourglass, making sure to coat the tiny object in my blood. I watch almost dazedly as Malfoy does the same thing—blinking only once before turning my attention to the cumbersome book in the crook of my arm.   
“Ill Quatra Di Sentre, De Maura y Locus, Portus Di Havero, Ill Quatra Di Sentre, De Maura y Locus, Sempre Da Finite….” I whisper the six lines slowly but accurately, focusing very hard on getting the linguistics of the ritual down.   
It was around the third time that I restarted the chant that I felt a tugging at my naval as if I had activated a portkey; I was pulled closer to Malfoy just as I begin to have a hard time breathing. My body was getting lighter and I could see myself starting to slowly turn translucent. I wasn’t panicked though, it seemed almost right to be vanishing into thin air. The door bursts open just as the pressure at my core reaches my maximum and the last image I have of my old reality is the dark lord himself standing at my door.   
Xxxx CHAPTER EIGHT  
The transition or switch was almost instant, one second I was in my bedroom at Grimmauld Place and the next second I was crashing into the wooden planks of an old floor with my eyes closed. I cry out instantly, realizing that it hurt much more than it would have normally. Pain encompasses my entire body and I begin to weep pitifully as a boot connects with my upper stomach—which causes me to curl into a ball. If only relief were that simple. A shriek escapes my mouth as I am dragged by my hair onto a filthy mattress nearby. My legs kick at the air as panic sets in and I realize that I hadn’t closed my eyes after all—they were too swollen to see out of. My head snaps to the side as agony drills its way into my skull. Rough, calloused hands twist my arms up above my head as I begin to wail at the realization of what this man is planning to do to me.   
The light gown that my new self must have put on as she was going to bed is easily slung up over my head and I am exposed. A moment later I head the unfastening of some kind of pants—I earnestly begin to scream before he even starts his torture. He slams into me hard and my screams hit a new pitch, he did not care how I felt though and continued on with his actions as if I were just acting. A numbing sensation travels throughout my body and I whimper as I recognize that I am about to black out. Cool, loving, darkness welcomes me gladly back into its embrace—but not before I realize that in this life, this had not been my first time.   
I am jolted awake by a nearby door being slammed, I whimper quietly as I hear footsteps come closer to where I am laying. A soft thump tells me that whoever it was that entered had either sat or kneeled down. A cool hand touches my arm and I flinch away—instinctively pulling myself inward.   
“Anna, it’s me.” A defeated voice states quietly. “Can you hear me?” the man asks next and I whimper as a response. “Annalise—I’m going to pick you up so don’t panic, okay? It’s just me.”   
When he says this, it’s almost as if my brain connects another piece of the puzzle—this voice was my brother. One arm lifts my neck slowly as the other finds its place in the bend of my knees, I whimper at the pain but allow him to pick me up without complaint. He picks me up easily and as he carries me throughout the room, I begin to question how much I weigh in this reality.   
“W-W-W… air.” My voice cracks as I speak and it hurts my parched throat terribly, but my brother catches on to what I’m asking quickly.   
“I’m taking you to Black Manor—Mrs. Black will allow you to stay there until I can find a more suitable arrangement.” He answers softly, “I know you have never met him, but I trust Regulus enough to know that he will protect you when I cannot.” Snap. Another piece of the puzzle connects into place and I whimper out of worry this time. I was the younger sister of the foulest Potions Master that Hogwarts has ever had, the smaller sister of the Order of the Phoenix’s double spy, I was Annalise Elaine Snape.


	6. Chapter Six

“You better be doing this correctly.” I hear the familiar sharp voice of my ‘brother’ and wince as I feel something being rubbed into my cheek.   
“I know what I’m doing Severus, Mother gave me explicit instructions.” A higher voice states and a second later, my cheek begins to burn.   
I whimper quietly as it feels like my skin is being seared—tears begin to fall as the sensation gets worse—a second later, the pain is gone completely. My eyes flash open and I flinch at how close a new face is to mine. Whoever it is backs up quickly as they see my panic.   
“Annalise, this is Regulus. He won’t hurt you. You’re safe here.” Severus’s voice states quietly and I look at him for a moment before reverting my eyes to the wall directly in front of me.   
“I have a potion for you that should help with the rest of the pain. After you feel like moving around for a bit, I was going to ask if you’d like to visit our library.” Regulus asks kindly and my eyes flicker to his.   
“Y-yes plea-please.” I whimper and he sends me a soft smile, someone must have told him how the new me loved to read.   
“You’ll stay here until you’re completely healed and ready to attend school, Mrs. Black seems to think that you’ll be ready by the start of the new term. I’ve talked to Dumbledore and he’s allowing you entrance into the school from homeschooling.” Severus informs me and my eyes shut briefly, thanking Merlin that I would be able to go back to my safe haven, Hogwarts.   
“Here you go now, one potion to heal the lady.” Regulus jokes to himself as he comes close enough to the bed that he can tip the vial against my lips.  
I close my eyes as the repugnant taste makes me want to gag; I force myself to swallow quickly so that I won’t throw up. A moment later, it feels as if the soreness of my legs has vanished, the pain in my back—obliterated. I breathe in deeply as I realize that even my aching lungs hurt no more.   
“Mother’s spelled clothes on you and such so that you’re ready for the library. Do you feel like going now?” Regulus asks kindly and I watch out of the corner of my eye as Severus exits the room without another word.   
“Y-yes please.” I growl quietly in my head as I realize that I sounded like a wounded little girl instead of the woman that I used to sound like.   
“Okay then.” He offers his hand out to me and I take it after a moment of staring at it nervously, he pulls me gently and helps me to stand up on my own. “Do you think you can walk?” he asks softly and I nod—so sure of myself that I could walk the few short steps to the library.   
I barely make it a step and a half before my knee gives and I find myself in the arms of the youngest Black brother. I squeak quietly as he helps me back to my feet before putting a gentle arm around my shoulders. I fight my instincts not to stiffen underneath his grip as he helps me limp my way to the familiar Black collection. When he opens the door, I breathe in deeply, the smell of the ancient tomes immediately relaxing me.   
“Is there anything that you would like to study first?” Regulus asks quietly as he sits me in front of the fire.   
I close my eyes as my thoughts stray to what I had been studying in the future—there was no reason to continue studying the matter now. I just had to make sure that I remembered everything that I had read to begin with. My eyes fly open as a thought enters my mind and my eyes meet with Regulus’.   
“Is there a pensive around that I could use?” I ask him quietly and evenly, my first coherent sentence in my new life.   
Xxx CHAPTER TEN  
Three days, seventy-two hours, four thousand three hundred and twenty minutes, two hundred fifty-nine thousand two hundred seconds. That is how long I’ve been in this new reality. The reality that I sent myself to in order to fix the world that I had left behind, the reality that I now spend most of my time viewing through the pensive. Draco and I had done so much research, we had looked at everything, but not once did we see anything about separation anxiety. The pain of it all was raw and burning, I hated knowing that I had done this without saying goodbye to the people that meant the most to me. I wandered if they had even realized that I was gone. The more of the memories that I placed in the pensive, the more depressed and irritated that I became. I sat in the library for hours on end, immersed in my old reality.   
I knew that I was running out of time to sulk, Severus would come check on me soon and I would be forced to do something other than this. Last night, I had pulled the memory of Draco and I out and had barely viewed it before beginning to cry. I hadn’t realized how much I missed him until I had seen him smirking at me from the doorway of my bedroom that night. I bawled my way through the entire memory and when it was over, I watched it again. It wasn’t that I loved him, no, I just honestly missed the one person that was going through the same thing that I was, and I missed Draco Malfoy. Reality seemed to slap me in the face; I wanted an old enemy more than I wanted anyone else. I watch him kiss the top of my head once more, hearing him whisper that I was amazing, before leaving the memory.   
I land back into my new reality and attempt to wipe the tears away, I failed miserably though, because they were still falling. I hiccup quietly as I hear a door open behind me and instantly tense up; instincts kick in as I try to be as quiet and small as possible. My instincts fail me again as I see an unfamiliar face staring down at me a moment later.   
“Hello, stranger.” I blink in surprise and whimper as I make the connection as to who this was in my old life.   
“Hi.” I whisper quietly, almost choking on my words as I look down at my lap and wipe my face gently.   
“Can I ask your name?” he asks softly and bends down so that he’s eye level with me—effectively forcing me to look at him directly.   
“Anna, I’m Annalise.” I mummer to him and his eyes widen in shock as he scans my features—he must have made the connection.   
“I’m Sirius, Regulus’s brother.” Sirius seemed at a loss for words other than informing me of his own name and we stare owlishly at each other for a moment.   
“I… I’m not like him you know.” I whisper and look back down at my hands, “I’m nothing like Severus except in my studies.” I inform him and he breathes out before standing up in front of me.   
“Have you eaten today?” he asks me casually and I feel my mouth move into a frown as I think about lying to one of my future mentors.   
“She hasn’t eaten since she arrived; all she’s done is sit there with her memories.” Regulus’s voice speaks up from behind me and I flinch in surprise.  
“Well then make her something you numbskull.” Sirius hisses and his eyes thin into slits as he stares at his younger brother in revulsion.   
“He has… I’m just not very hungry.” I admit softly and bite my lip as I see him look down at me in curiosity.   
“Well you need to eat to live!” he says this as if I was being preposterous and I almost smile but catch myself just in time.   
“I’m fine Sirius.” I mummer gently and pull my knees up against my chest, pulling myself into a smaller ball than before. .  
“You are not fine! You have fifteen minutes to get yourself together before I come and feed you single-handedly!” Sirius puffs his chest out dramatically and smirks down at me before walking out of the room and leaving me with Regulus.   
I whimper softly before looking down at my hands and realizing that I had been forced played into getting up and around Grimmauld Place. A hand on my shoulder causes me to flinch as I look up into the onyx eyes of the younger Black sibling. I knew that he was offering to help me back to my room and I sigh softly before nodding and allowing him to pull me up to my feet. A shot of pain shoots through my back as my spine cracks and my arms immediately cross in front of my aching stomach. It had been churning and rumbling for quite some time, I had just fought myself to forget about my physical body in favor of my memories. I groan as Regulus helps me down the hall and into my room before leaving me alone to get ready. I sigh quietly as I hear laughter downstairs, Sirius must have company. I could feel it in my very bones that my life was about to get very exciting and I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not.   
Xxxx CHAPTER ELEVEN  
“Come on then.” Regulus mutters quietly from the doorway and I can’t help but to roll my eyes at his horrible display of manners.   
“I’m coming.” I whisper to myself more than anything before turning slightly and looking at Regulus in the eyes.   
His eyes soften gently as he sees how nervous I truly am and he sends me a small smile before walking closer to me. I let him take my elbow as we begin the journey down the stairs, I grimace slightly as raucous laughter meets my ears. It’s only when we’re on the last step that Regulus stops me for a moment and lets me take a moment to breathe. He lets go of me gently and comes to stand in front of me.  
“You should know that his friends—they’re a little disruptive. If you’re uncomfortable at any time, I can help you back to your room or the library.” Regulus offers quietly with a small sneer on his face as if I didn’t know that he hated them.   
“T-thank you.” I stutter softly and feel a blush rise to my cheeks as the younger Black looks at me with amusement for a moment.   
“You’re welcome.” Regulus states before coming back to my side and helping the rest of the way to the kitchen.   
It wasn’t until I was actually standing in the doorway of the kitchen that I realized who exactly inhabited the small area. The loud room suddenly becomes very quiet when Sirius stands up abruptly as he notices my arrival. I swallow thickly and try not to panic as I look around the room silently. Regulus squeezes my arm and I glance up at him and see that he’s shooting me a worried stare—I shake my head quickly so that he knows that I’m fine and that he wouldn’t have to carry me up the stairs anytime soon.   
“Annalise this is the Marauders!” Sirius says with a brilliant smile on his face before flourishing his hand around the room. “This one here’s James, we’re like twins! Except of course, I’ve got better eyesight and have an easier time with the ladies and James is going through a particularly hard time with the love of hi-“   
“I think she gets the point Padfoot.” A sandy haired boy mummers quietly and I glance at him slowly as Sirius makes the unnecessary introductions.   
“That one theres, Remus! You two will get along great with your love of books and all that old crap, he might even help you with your studies like he does us.” Sirius laughs to himself before pointing to the third person in the room. “That one in the corner is a bit sickly still but-“   
“I think I can introduce myself just fine Sirius.” I feel my eyes widen unconsciously and I take a step back without realizing it. “I’m Lukas Potter, but you already knew that didn’t you.” His tone is surprisingly flippant and I whimper.   
“Luke, what in the world are you talking about? Of course she wouldn’t know you, the poor girls been locked away nearly all of her life!” James hisses quietly but stops as he glances at me and notices my reaction.   
“R-Reg?” I whisper quietly and feel myself begin to shake where I stood in the doorway.   
“It’s fine, Annalise. Let’s just get you sat down and I’ll go get you some toast and juice.” He whispers in my ear and I feel tears beginning to fall but nod all the same. It’s only quit for a moment before—  
“Becoming friends with Regulus, Anna?” I flinch at how cold the tone of his voice sounds and I wonder if I could ever make him understand.   
“L… Luke he helps.” I whisper as I stare at the wooden table forlornly, tears were beginning to trace their way down my cheeks slowly.   
“Holy Merlin, you actually know my brother!” James exclaims loudly causing me to flinch and I look up warily before focusing my gaze back downwards.   
“Have you looked at it yet? The memory?” my eyes cinch shut as his voice drops down an octave and I know immediately what he’s talking about.   
“Y-yes.” I say this quietly before looking up into the icy blue eyes of Lukas Potter and he wavers for a moment. “I haven’t… I-I couldn’t…” I try to explain but my throat feels as if it’s closing, “Only y-you.” I whimper as my vision begins to narrow and his eyes widen in realization.   
“What’re you doing to her?” Regulus demands loudly as he comes back into the room, but no one moves to answer him.   
“Breathe.” Lukas demands shallowly as he jumps out of his chair and comes around the table, “Look at me and breathe!” he demands again and his cool hands on my cheeks force me to look into his eyes and I choke for a moment before gasping quietly.   
“Get your hands off of her Potter.” Reg is by my side now but I barely notice, Lukas is keeping my attention solely on him.   
“Breathe. You need to breathe and think for a moment. Amazing. You remember, right? Amazing, so breathe!” his voice is quiet and he is speaking quickly, but I catch every word and gasp once more for air.   
“What in the bloody hell is your brother doing, James!” Sirius questions and the bond between him and I is broken as I look down into my lap and continue to gasp for air.   
“I think you should head home Luke.” A soft voice mummers throughout my fog of confusion and I glance up quickly.   
“No.” I feel eyes staring at me in surprise, “I don’t want him… he needs to…” I struggle for the words for a moment and grow frustrated before looking into the icy blue eyes of my first lover, “Stay.” I make my very first demand since becoming my new self.


	7. Chapter Seven

It had been three days since I met the Marauders and I still wasn’t used to being around them, I wasn’t quite sure if I ever would be okay around them. James reminded me so much of Harry, Remus and Sirius reminding me of their future selves, that I had a hard time seeing them as sixteen year old boys. Ever since that day in the kitchen, Lukas and I became closer than ever before. Not romantically, of course, but as far as personally went, Draco Malfoy had become my best friend.  
Everyone looked at us like we were insane when we hung out, they just couldn’t understand how I had known Luke before coming to Grimmauld Place. When they would ask, we would just sit and smile for a moment before ignoring the question completely. It annoyed them greatly when we did this and for some reason, it made me happy knowing that they had no idea. That was, until I limped into the library one day to see someone in my pensive.  
Fear strikes me deep in the stomach as I realize that Remus was looking at one of my most intimate memories. Panic surges as I rush to the edge of the small bowl and grip the Marauder by his collar, effectively ending his viewing of my memory. He looks around stunned for a moment before having the grace to blush slightly as he glances at me.  
“Why in Merlin would you do that to me Remus?” I demand quietly, my panic evident in the soft tone of my voice.  
“I—I don’t know.” He takes a step away from me and I look down at the swirling water of my first time.  
“What is it? Did you sense that something was in the bowl?” I question him lightly and he tenses as mention that he can sense things.  
“No. I… oh, bloody hell Annalise, I had the feeling that there was something that you weren’t telling us.” He has the manners enough to look down when he admits it.  
“So this has nothing to do with your extra perceptions?” I ask him sharply and he winces, “I mean it is incredibly close to the full moon and you’ve been avoiding me all day.” I inform him and look him in the eyes.  
“W-what?” he coughs suddenly and looks very pale as he realizes that I know his secret, I roll my eyes before turning away from him.  
“I may be weak sometimes, I may panic sometimes, but Remus, I’m not ignorant at all.” I whisper and he shifts awkwardly behind me.  
“I think you may be pregnant.” The studious Marauder blurts out and I blink down at the bowl for a moment in shock.  
“I wondered if you would say something about that.” I admit quietly and turn to look at him, “you mustn’t tell anyone yet.” I add and his eyes widen as he realizes what I’m saying.  
“Y-you actually… you’ve known?” his voice is strangled a bit as I look at him in amusement for a moment.  
“Known what Anna?” Luke comes bouncing through the doorway with a smile on his face and the tension in the room immediately drops.  
“Nothing, Luke, we’ve just been talking is all.” I give him a small smile before turning back to the quiet Marauder in the room, “You promise?” I ask him and hold out my pinky finger to him.  
He stares at me a moment as if asking a silent question, I bite my lip as the awkwardness escalates. He glances at Lucas quickly and I wonder if he has made the connection. For a moment, the library is quiet as no one says a word.  
“Promise.” Remus mutters before wrapping his larger pinky around mine quickly and then disengaging himself as he leaves the room.  
“What was that about?” Luke whispers and I shrug as I turn back to the pensive.  
“I caught Remus in my Pensive is all.” I mummer to him and feel his warm hand on my back, “he watched us… you know.” My blush is enough to inform the world as to what I was actually talking about and I feel myself sigh in embarrassment.  
“Bloody hell, this is more nerve-wracking then I thought it would be.” He whispers to me and I nod silently.  
“Will you put a silencing spell on the room?” I ask him softly and feel his hand move for a moment before the room goes a little more quiet, I could barely hear the noise outside of the room now.  
“What’s wrong Granger?” he asks and I feel myself beginning to blush harder than I ever have.  
“It’s my fault actually, I should’ve thought about what the repercussions would be and it entirely slipped my mind with all of the research that we’d been doing and I was just so stressed out and now I have no idea how to explain this one away without sounding completely nutters, I mean it’s one thing to—“ my rant is cut off for a moment as Malfoy laughs and I stop for a moment.  
“What’s wrong?” he asks me in amusement, oh the poor boy had no idea what was coming.  
“Due to our previous activities before we arrived, it seems that I’ve become….pregnant.” the last word is whispered so quietly that I’m not sure that he even heard me until I glance and see that he’s become frozen.  
“Pregnant?” he asks me and I nod my head in the affirmative, “Oh Merlin.” He glances at my face before looking down at my stomach for a moment.  
“I know.” I whimper as I look down, although you couldn’t see anything at all of the bump that was soon to be coming.  
“We’ve got a lot of explaining to do.” He whispers to me and I feel my nose wrinkle at the thought of it all, “We need to create a story, Granger, Anna, they’ve got to believe that I’m— I mean Lucas is the father.” He says this quickly and I blink at him for a moment before biting my lip.  
“You won’t have to worry about that.” I whisper to him and his eyebrows furrow in confusion, “The ritual would have changed the babies DNA to fit our new bodies.” I explain to him and he nods after a moment.  
“I’m going to be a father.” He whispers to me as if I hadn’t already known and I reach out for his hand, grasping it softly as I bring it to my lips.  
“I’m going to be a mum.” I remind him and his eyes twinkle before he finally gives in and allows a genuine smile.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Author’s Note: I’d just like to say that the pregnancy is an unexpected idea that I had at two o’clock in the morning, the story will continue and go on to be Remus/Hermione/Sirius. No, Hermione will not run off with Draco. Yes, they will have to explain everything to the marauders, well in a made up story anyway. (No one can know about the ritual or the time travel after all!)**

The days following the awkwardness in the library, Remus seemed to follow me around the house closely. Not only that, but the rest of the Marauder’s had caught on to his sudden overprotectiveness and surmised that he and I had in the words of Sirius ‘snogged or something’. I said nothing to negate this, but did not say that it was true; I just sort of silently went through their friendly ridicule with Draco by my side. As time went on though, I noticed that Remus would glance between Lukas and I quite often and I wondered if he had figured it out yet. I hadn’t told anyone else of my pregnancy and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to release the information before I got to Hogwarts. Memories of Annalise’s life seemed to come naturally to me now and I had no sudden desire to face Severus when he heard the news. It seemed Professor Snape was quite protective over his younger sister, even more so now that she was in the house with a bunch of marauders. He had popped by to check on me twice in the past two weeks and I couldn’t help but to wonder if he sensed that something was going on. My sense of nausea had heightened horribly so and it was the third time that I’d woken up in the middle of the night to throw up when Sirius woke up and came to my aid. 

Xxx

I lean against the cool porcelain of the toilet and pray that my stomach settles this time, only to feel my mouth fill with an overage of saliva and I moan quietly as the disgusting bile rises. I barely have time to hear the knock on the door before it opens and I see Sirius slip into the bathroom. I whimper quietly as I feel him lifting my hair away from my shoulders, his other hand comes to rest on my back.   
“Are you okay?” He whispers softly and I feel the insane need to run away from him, but know that I can’t without raising more suspicion anyways.   
“F-Fine.” I stutter softly and clench my eyes closed as I try to calm my breathing.  
“You sure don’t look fine Anna. In fact, you look downright awful.” He says this quietly as if he expected me to smack him, which I would have under normal circumstances, but these were not in any way normal circumstances.   
“I’m fine, really.” I mummer and force myself to unsteadily stand up before flushing the toilet awkwardly.   
“Anna.” Sirius’s voice takes on a very serious turn and I pause my wand midway to my mouth and drop my arm after a moment to look at him. “What’s going on with you and James’s brother?” he asks this deliberately and I feel myself panicking on the inside.   
“We’re friends is all, just like me and Regulus.” I say this softly while staring into his eyes, I wasn’t lying after all, Lukas and I were just friends now, I felt no romantic feelings towards him anymore.   
“Annalise.” Sirius speaks sharply and I flinch as I realize that he must know something, he must have forced Remus to tell him something or other.   
“We… we were close a while ago, before I came here. That’s over now though.” I tell him this and hope he understands that it’s the truth, I couldn’t lie to Sirius or Remus, they always could see right through my lies no matter the time period.   
“Close?” Sirius echoes my wording and I turn from him as I stare into the mirror, I still wasn’t used to the reflection in the mirror.   
“Sirius… please….” I sigh softly as I look into the sink without saying another word—it wasn’t until I felt a hand on my back that I looked back up into the mirror.   
“We were together once.” I hear a deep voice rasp from the doorway and I turn around swiftly to look at Draco—I had to stop calling him that in my mind—in disbelief. “Are you done getting sick? I need the restroom.” He rolls his eyes at me and I feel myself blushing as I realize how closely Sirius is looking at me.   
“Yes, I’ll just be heading back to my rooms then.” I mummer and move past the father of my child silently, I could hear Sirius following me down the hallway as quietly as he could. “We’re just friends now.” I admit to him as I open my bedroom door and turn to look at him.   
“What did he mean when he said that?” Sirius asks curiously, his steely eyes looking into my own as if he was searching for an answer to something.   
“Sirius… Luke and I really have been just friends.” I whisper to him and force myself to look up and down the hallway to make sure it was quiet before continuing my sentence. “We were intimate once.” I whisper and at least he has the grace to look shocked when he connected all of the pieces.   
“Once is enough.” He pushes the sentence out and glances down at my stomach curiously before looking into my eyes.   
“One is definitely enough. You can’t tell anyone though, promise me Sirius.” I push the last part out in a rush and raise my hand once more, extending my pinky finger out.   
“That’s why Moony’s always following you around.” He realizes and I nod quickly. “It’s not right for everyone to know besides your guys’ brothers.” He mummers to me and I bite my lip as I make the realization that he’s correct.   
“Promise me you won’t let it slip and I’ll promise that I’ll tell them when Severus arrives next.” I sigh quietly as I watch his larger pinky wrap around mine for a moment before he releases me.   
“Deal.” He whispers quickly and moves with lightning speed as he bends down and kisses my check gently before heading to his own room.   
XXXCHAPTER FOURTEEN   
You would think that teenage boys would know that when a girl is only four weeks pregnant that they don’t have to be fiercely protected at all time. Not the teenage boys that I associate with though, Remus, Sirius, and Luke had followed me around for days before I finally got sick of it and had hid in the library. Technically, I was hiding more away from Sirius than anyone else. He had this habit of catching me off guard and kissing me when I least expected it. It was utterly annoying at first, of course, but after five of the so-called ‘attacks’ I had come to enjoy it. I hadn’t realized that fact until he had found me in the kitchen during the night.  
I was standing at the counter entirely focused on eating the bowl of grapes and cheese that I had just made up when I felt a hand on my hip. I swallowed what I had in my mouth quickly as he turned me around and his lips found mine almost instinctively by now. My frozen demeanor thaws as he pulls me closer against his chest and his kisses gain fervor. I feel more than know that my hands are against his chest as I find myself melting into his embrace.  
He rejoiced as a sinking feeling in my heart told me that I was beginning to like more than his kisses. This revelation led me to the idea that I should stay away from him and his entire group of friends for a while. I was in the darkest corner of the library, which also happened to be the furthest from the door, reading a book about the inconsistencies in transfigurational literature when someone else walks through the door. Facing the knowledge that they would eventually interrupt my reading anyway, I continue to finish the page that I’m on before even looking up.   
“Did you need something Remus?” I ask softly when I see that he looks as if he actually wants to converse with me instead of just bothering me until I came out of the library.   
“Just because you are hiding out from everyone does not mean that you get to starve Annalise.” He says this seriously and I sigh softly.   
“I just needed a moment or two.” I whisper to him and place my bookmark in place before shutting the book and putting it down. “I don’t feel like going around everyone right now.” I admit and he frowns for a moment before looking down at the ground.   
“I wish that we could have a small picnic outside, just you and me, you know?” he says this gently and I smile as I take his hand and allow him to pull me up.   
“Well, why can’t we?” I ask him and he looks up as he realizes what exactly I was saying, his eyes light up for a moment before darkening again and I bite my lip in nervousness.   
“Your brother is downstairs at the moment and he’s quite insistent that you come have a meal with him.” He whispers the real reason that he had come to get me out of my lovely cocoon of books and I frown myself.   
“This… I’m not sure if I want to do this today.” I mutter as I pull my hand out of Remus’s in order to straighten out my shirt anxiously.   
“You know that you will though, you have to keep your promise to Padfoot now don’t you?” Remus says this softly and I nod as I look into his eyes.   
“I’m scared… Severus, I mean, he could pull me out of here.” I sigh gently and my eyes shut for a moment as I try to ready myself.   
Arms wrap around my waist slowly and pull me into the warm chest of one of my close friends, I whimper as I wrap my own arms around his neck and cuddle into his collarbone. Remus holds me like this for a moment in absolute silence and I find myself relishing in how his arms feel around me. I breathe in gently as I feel his hand reach up to wipe my hair away from my face before settling on my hip comfortably.   
“I won’t let him hurt you Anna. You know that you’re safe here. When he’s done ranting and raving, Padfoot and I will be here for you just like we promised.” He mummers to me and I sigh softly as I realize that he’s right, I feel him tense up underneath my hands after a moment.   
“Remus?” I ask this gently, my voice coming out softer than I had thought it would and he pulls me even closer to him than before, anxiety bubbles up and I find myself fighting my instincts to run away as I realize what exactly he’s about to do.   
“Annalise.” My name falling from his lips only makes me even more anxious as I feel his hand reach up to cup my cheek.   
My eyes open and I look into his eyes as I realize what exactly is about to occur—surprisingly he looks as if he’s even more nervous than me. Nerves seem to evaporate as I realize just how right this feels when his lips touch mine for the first time. My eyes fall closed and I lean into the kiss. It’s then that I realize why I feel myself smiling into the kiss—for the first time since I’ve come into this new reality, I actually feel safe in someone else’s arms. Remus reluctantly pulls away from my lips so that he can look into my eyes and I discover that I can’t stop myself from smiling. He kisses my nose and then my forehead softly before holding me to him for a moment.   
“As much as I want to keep you up here, your brother has already threatened to poison me once.” He speaks this quietly and I nod into his chest. “Also, I have the feeling that Padfoot is going to murder me in my sleep tonight.” I freeze in horror as the full weight of what’s just happened falls on my shoulders and I find myself stepping away from Remus.   
“I don’t- I mean, I’m so… oh no.” I whisper to myself and discover that I’m beginning to cry because of the situation.   
“It’s not your fault. Stop that.” Remus groans quietly as he sees the tears starting to fall and takes a step toward me.   
“I can’t… I mean… Sirius… and now you.” I find myself fighting my emotions in order to talk clearly.   
“Right now, you need to focus on the fact that Snape is downstairs and growing angrier by the second.” He says this quickly before I can panic any more than I already am, he then steps closer to me and wipes my tears away without another word.   
“A-Alright.” I whisper to myself and turn from the confusing man in front of me in order to walk out the door.   
CHAPTER FIFTEENXXXX  
I am fully aware of the fact that everyone is staring at me as I walk into the sitting room and stand just in the entryway. I twitch nervously as Severus walks towards me and pulls me into a chair across from his. Instinctively, I pull my knees up to my chest and watch him nervously for a moment before trying to find words to match what I needed to say.   
“Regulus assures me that your health is much better than the last time I visited.” He speaks quietly, trying to focus on me instead of the other people in the room that he deemed less important.   
“It is.” I answer him softly, my eyes focused on my twitching hands. “Everyone makes sure that I eat and rest.” I continue quietly. “I do have something of importance to tell you.” I raise my eyes up so that I could look at his.   
As soon as I look into his eyes they narrow and he stands quickly, I flinch as I notice Sirius, Remus, and Lukas rising as well. I swallow quickly as he comes toward me with his hand outstretched. I take it, knowing that he would never intentionally hurt me, and stand in front of his cowering body. My eyes close for a moment as I try to compose myself before I speak and when they open I notice that he is still staring at me with narrowed eyes.   
“Severus, I am with child.” I whisper it so quietly that I’m not sure if he heard me at first, but then his eyes widen incredibly quickly and he begins to shake from his anger.   
“Who?” His one word response frightens me and I take a step back slowly, he notices my response and looks around the room accusingly. “Annalise, who did this to you?” he demands now, his voice raising in pitch as his frustration becomes evident.   
“Well, I mean, Severus—please calm down!” I notice how his eyes narrow at me when he realizes I am deflecting the question. “It happened before father—I mean… you weren’t around nearly as much—I just needed to feel like someone cared.” I try to explain to him as quickly as I can but his anger is only skyrocketing with my every word.   
“Annalise, who?!” He nearly screams this at me and I can’t help but let a whimper out as I take another couple steps back from him.   
“Me. It was me Snape.” I hear the voice from behind me, quickly identifying it with Lukas, and barely have time to squeak as Severus grips my wrist tightly and drags me towards him.   
“Sev please, you’re hurting me.” I whimper quietly and look to where he is holding my wrist so tightly that pain is shooting up my arm.   
“You slept with Potter? You jumped into bed with a bloody Gryffindor?” he hisses at me and his other hand forces my chin up so that I had to look him in the eyes.   
“Just once, only once. Please, Severus, please let go.” I plead with him softly and his lips twitch for a moment.   
“Are you with him? Are you two together?” he demands quietly and I shake my head as quickly as I can.   
“N-no. J-just friends. Only once. Severus, ow!” he twists my wrist as he turns to look at Lukas and I begin to get dizzy from the pain.   
“You realize how this will look? Not only did you sleep with a Slytherin, but with my sister! Then you go and leave her in her predicament!” Severus is basically snarling at Lukas by now and tears begin to fall quietly.   
“Let her go. Snape, look at your bloody sister!” Sirius shouts and Severus’s head swings back in my direction, I notice his eyes soften for a moment before hardening once again.   
“You’re with him?” He accuses quietly and I begin to cry even more as his grip on my wrist tightens so that I can barely breathe from the pain.   
“S-Sev… I just- I might… not entirely.” I begin to sob incoherently as I realize how sordid my life really was at the moment.   
“At the moment, your sister isn’t with anyone.” Remus supplies helpfully which only makes the situation even more awkward as I continue to sob.   
“What is it that you’re saying Lupin?” Severus hisses quietly, his eyes still latched onto my own so that I could see his disappointment.   
“Look Snape, we are quite aware that Anna is going through a lot of things at the moment, but we are also aware that she needs to be with somebody. The point being that she is the one choosing us and not us choosing her.” Sirius’s voice is angry, but rational as he speaks, so rational that I only catch his mistake when Severus reacts and promptly lets go of my wrist.   
I fall quite ungracefully on the floor and instantly find myself in a ball, instinctively I must have known something more was coming. There is a sudden quiet in the room and I can feel everyone’s eyes on me because of the way I reacted, but I could barely control myself at this point and begin to sob harder than before. I tuck my wrist in close to my chest and feel a hand on my shoulder. I stiffen at first—I hoped it wouldn’t hurt anymore—but I relax as whoever it is picks me up and holds me to their chest.  
“She wants to be here Snape, she needs to be around us. You know she’s safer here than anywhere else you could take her. We’re not going to keep her hostage, I think we’ve proven that already. No matter who she chooses to be with—you know that we’ll all protect her.” James speaks up quietly and as I begin to calm down, I’m all too aware of the fact that Lukas is holding me.   
“It’s not right. She shouldn’t be here. She shouldn’t be making friends with you like this—what are you going to do if she’s in Slytherin? You’ll just abandon her!” My brother snaps, “She shouldn’t be in this situation, but it’s obvious that she wants the child and that she wants to be with you lot.” He growls quietly and Lukas grips me tighter for a moment.   
“Sirius and I would protect her with our lives—I’m sure Lukas feels the same way.” Remus whispers this softly and there’s another moment of awkward silence.   
“Annalise, I’ll come back next month, right before school starts. If you need anything, owl me.” He orders before I hear him take the floo and leave without another word.   
“Are you okay?” Lukas asks me softly and I whimper quietly, choosing to hide my face in the layers of his clothes rather than answering.   
“Let’s get her calmed down and I’ll find Regulus so that he can give her the medicine.” Sirius mutters softly and I feel myself being transferred into harder arms.   
I open my eyes slowly as I’m brought up the stairs and stare at Sirius’s face quietly, not only did he look worried, but he looked so frustrated. Even more tears begin to fall as I realize what he had said earlier about making a choice. How could I choose between them? I was falling for them both equally fast and I could tell that they both cared about me so much. We make it up the staircase and into my bedroom silently.   
“Shh… Anna, baby, you need to calm down.” He whispers to me as he puts me down onto the bed and notices that I’m still crying.   
“S-Sirius…” I struggle to calm down enough to talk, “I can’t… I mean... you and Remus… please.” I find myself almost begging him to understand what I’m saying.   
“Don’t worry about that right now. There’s no reason to be worrying about that right this moment. Remus and I will still be here when you wake up.” He assures me softly, misinterpreting what I’m saying completely.  
“I can’t choose.” I whisper the words quietly and anxiety ricochets throughout my body as his face takes on an impassive expression. “Please, d-don’t be mad.” I plead as he stands up and looks down at me.


	9. Chapter Nine

It was only a couple of hours later that a knock on my door knocks me out of my dismal reverie and I watch the door open slowly. Regulus walks into the room and without looking at me once hurries to shut the door. I sigh quietly before sitting up on the bed and watching him as he sets vials down onto the bedside table. I reach for one of the dark purple vials, uncork it, and swallow the disgusting potion down in one quick movement.  
“You know that you’ve got everyone in the house worried about you?” He states this quietly as if he had no business telling me, but felt that I needed to be informed anyway.  
“Regulus, I’ve no idea what to do, Severus is so angry, and now Sirius and Remus….” I swallow thickly as I force myself to stop before I begin to cry again.  
“You should know by now that Severus will get over his anger quite quickly. Black and Lupin are a completely different matter.” He smirks at me for a moment before noticing how serious I’m being and groaning dramatically. “Talk to them. Lupin wouldn’t let anything happen to you unless it was for the best. The boy is downright a bit more mature than his friends.” He informs me and then winces as if he’d said something he shouldn’t have.  
“Did the Slytherin say something nice about his enemy?” I giggle quietly as he scowls at me.  
“Oh, shut it.” He smirks at me for a moment before standing up, “I’ll write to your brother and encourage him to think things through, it is rare—after all— that I’m the logical one out of me and him.” He whispers and walks out of the room without closing the door.  
I roll over onto my side after a moment and curl into a ball, I wince inwardly at the action—I hadn’t gotten used to all of Annalise’s actions quite yet. As time wore on though, I noticed that while my bookish attitude stayed that I had gotten much, much more emotional. I wasn’t quite sure if it was because of the pregnancy or if Annalise had truly been that passionate before the switch. All I knew was that I was finding myself doing things that I would have been repulsed to do in my earlier life. Yet, in my earlier life, I would never have to choose between two of the most important mentors in my entire life either.  
It was with this thought that I felt my heart clench as I began to think about the two of them, the time that I had spent with each of them, all of the things that I had discovered about them and what they had discovered about me in turn. I feel myself tearing up all over again as the different memories run through my mind.  
Xxx  
“Can I sit with you?” I hear the gentle voice ask and look up from my book in order to match the voice with the face.  
“Oh, Remus, of course you can.” I smile at him before focusing back onto my book, I feel him sitting beside me after a moments silence.  
Xxx  
“Anna, I’ve brought you something to eat off of while you’re reading.” There’s a gentle knock at the door and I find myself looking up into familiar eyes.  
“You shouldn’t have Sirius. I would have come down.” I mummer as I mark my page before turning towards him with a smile.  
“You would have come down when the food had gone cold and crusty.” He smirks at me and I roll my eyes at him in response.  
“I just like reading is all—is that so wrong?” I tease him and get a genuine smile from him in return.  
“There’s nothing wrong with reading.” He assures me for a moment and I can’t help but to giggle nervously in his direction.  
Xxx  
“My, my, Remus, quite the sneaky one after all, aren’t you?” I smirk with satisfaction as I watch him freeze in his actions.  
“I was just getting a bit of chocolate.” He explains quietly before turning around with a bar in his hands.  
“It’s fine you know? I mean I was just coming down for a bit of tea, I had to sneak down here to get it myself.” I whisper to him and he gives me a soft smile.  
“Would you like a bit?” he asks kindly, offering me a portion of his stash but I shake my head almost instantly.  
“No thank you, I’m sure you need to save that up right?” I ask him softly and he tenses for a moment before shrugging his shoulders.  
“Yeah, I guess so.” He slides the bar in the pocket of his robes before hurrying to leave the room, I swallow quickly as I’m suddenly filled with nerves.  
“Remus?” I stop him from leaving the room and walk closer to him after a quiet moment. “Be careful, won’t you? I don’t like it when you guys come back all scratched up.” I mummer and he meets my eyes slowly with the knowledge that I know his secret.  
Xxx  
“What would you like for breakfast?” I ask as soon as I hear the door to the kitchen open, I don’t bother to look back to see who it is.  
“Blueberry pancakes with a tall glass of you to sate my thirst.” He states this quietly and I can’t help but to giggle as I turn around.  
“Really, Sirius?” I find myself blushing as he looks at me so intensely that I feel like he can see what I’m thinking as I’m thinking it.  
“Really, Anna” he mimics me with a smirk before bending down and giving me a quick peck on the cheek before reaching over for the blueberries. “Here, why don’t you get started on the batter and I’ll work on eating these myself.” I giggle again at his ‘offer’ to help me with breakfast.  
Xxx  
It’s not until I feel a hand resting on my shoulder that I actually come out of my thoughts and back into the real world. I curl into my ball tighter as I realize that whoever is behind me must know that I’m crying. A mixture of shame and uneasiness mixes in with the sense of overwhelming sadness that I already feel.  
“Are you okay, Annalise?” I relax under his touch once I identify his voice, Remus only ever called me by my full name.  
“I’m f-fine.” I whisper to him quietly but I know that he won’t take my answer seriously, not with me stuttering like the blithering idiot that I felt like at the moment.  
I feel him grip my shoulder a little tighter before he pulls me closer to him, I understand what he wants after a moment and turn so that I’m snuggling into his side. I breathe in gently relishing in our closeness, because this was the first that that I’d actually been this close to him before without us kissing and that was only once as well. As much as I’d like to say that being this close to him unnerved me, it actually calmed me down quite quickly. He holds me to his side for a long while until he can feel my breath evening out before even bothering to speak.  
“You shouldn’t be so worked up over this Annalise.” He says this precisely as if he’d given it a lot of thought already and I flinch involuntarily.  
“Remus….” I start, but find myself without the words to describe how badly I felt that I had to choose between them.  
“You’re very brilliant about most things, but when it comes to pureblood customs… it seems your heritage has failed you.” He says this quietly as if he doesn’t want to offend me.  
“I’m not a pureblood.” I point out to him, my voice coming out muffled because I refused to move my head from where it was currently located.  
“Ah, yes, I know that, but Sirius and I are.” He mummers to and I feel his hand begin to stroke my back gently in an attempt to keep me calm.  
“It’s true you know.” I hear Sirius and assume that he’s just arrived, I refuse to lift my head up still, but feel the bed dip and his warm hand envelops my cool one. “Purebloods have to stick to their customs no matter who they want to be with.” He states this almost bitterly but he squeezes my hand after a moment.  
“So?” I ask quietly and feel myself begin to shake from nerves, I breathe in slowly and refuse to let Annalise’s reaction to this situation overrun me—I wanted to be Hermione through and through at the moment.  
“Annalise, you don’t have to choose. Our customs allow two wizards to have the same witch as long as it’s all consensual.” Remus informs me and I find myself frozen in shock.  
There had been so much that I hadn’t researched before I came back, I hadn’t even considered looking into old customs—especially pureblood ones. I had told Sirius that I couldn’t choose between the two of them and here I was with them both. True to my normal self, I begin panicking right away. I couldn’t even handle my relationship with Victor all that well and there was only one of him, how could I handle a relationship with two boys? Then you have to factor in the fact that those two boys are also marauders and that I am in fact Severus Snape’s younger sister. Let alone the fact that in the future these two boys become my future mentors and that they are twenty years older then me!  
“Anna, breathe.” Sirius reminds me quietly albeit with a tone of humor in his voice and I force myself to breathe in and then out slowly. “What’d you do, go off on one of your inner monologues again?” he asks and after a moment of catching my breath—I always seemed to forget to breathe when I was shocked—I nod.  
“Well, Sirius, I think this is the part that she’s supposed to either give her consent or tell us to buzz off, but then again, this is Annalise.” I look up into Remus’s smirking face and bite my lip as I sit up slowly.  
Remus keeps his arm around me but he lets it rest on my waist gently as I look down at my hands. Sirius grips my right hand tightly, almost as if he was afraid that I would make him let go. Then again, he was master of sneaking kisses, not master of holding my hand, well yet anyways. Remus squeezes me closer to him without saying a word and I shut my eyes for a moment. With them closed, I can think more rationally and to be completely honest, more like Hermione instead of Annalise. Remus would never lie to me about this sort of thing, so this sort of thing must be common in this day and age. I had heard Molly talking about her brothers Gideon and Fabian sharing the same girlfriend until they were murdered, so it must not have been too strange or she wouldn’t of even mentioned it. I felt completely safe with Sirius and Remus around me like this and in all truthfulness, I genuinely felt love for the first time in a long time. But Draco and I had come back in order to fix our world, could this help or hurt our cause? I swallow quickly as I realize that if I consented to this that I could keep both Remus and Sirius safe. Also, I genuinely found myself falling in love with the both of them.  
“Remus, Sirius, I have no idea how to consent to this sort of thing.” I admit quietly, “But I do. I mean—consent that is.” I whisper and open my eyes, both Sirius and Remus are smiling at me and I can’t help but to giggle as I realize that uptight Hermione Granger just consented to being with two wizards at once. 

The change in the relationship was almost instant; of course, both Remus and Sirius had a hard time keeping their hands to their selves. Not that Sirius was ever really good at that anyways. I found myself suddenly aware of the fact that I was in the house with six sixteen-year-old boys. I was lying in front of the fire one night and reading a book about newborn babies, but I couldn’t seem to get my mind to focus. I frown to myself as I move closer to the body that I was leaning against and sigh quietly. Remus, I had discovered could not stop his hand from stroking my stomach when we were reading together and I always had a hard time focusing while he was doing it. I look down at the baby bump for a moment and shut my eyes as I place my own hands on the taut surface of my stomach. All the books that I’d been reading told me that I wouldn’t feel anything for at least another two months, but I always found myself hoping that I would feel some kind of movement deep in my stomach. I mean, I knew I was pregnant, all the spells and tests proved that, but there had been no evidence as far as my body was concerned. I was a little over six weeks pregnant now and other than my throwing up every night, I had no other symptoms.  
“Annalise, we need to talk.” My eyes flutter open to meet the cool blues of my child’s father and I shut my book after a moment.  
“Okay, what would you like to talk about?” I ask him quietly, although I’m not entirely sure why, because by now Remus, Sirius, and Regulus all three were listening into our conversation.  
“I want you to move into Potter Manor.” He says this with a tone of finality in his voice and I find myself growing angry with him for it.  
“Why should I do that? I’m doing quite well here after all.” I speak this quietly but I can tell that Luke knows that I’m quite angry at him by the way that he’s looking at everywhere but at the person he’s speaking with.  
“It’s just that the day after tomorrow, we’re all heading back and you’ll be here with Sirius, Regulus, and his family.” He states and finally looks me in the eyes again, “Look, it’s not just me. We’ve all kind of decided that you should come to Potter Manor with us. Sirius and his brother are invited as well.” With this sentence, I could tell that the boys had been talking behind my back and I look at the fire angrily.  
“No.” I stand up quickly even though I was slightly nauseous and stare at him straight in the eyes before repeating myself. “No.” I discover that while I am mentally Hermione, I enjoy allowing Annalise break through everyone in a while when everyone in the room looks at me in shock as I stomp out of the room and up the stairs.  
Once I was in my room, I shut the door and effectively warded it so that no one could come in before I walk across the room and pick up the small box by the windowsill. I sit on my bed and open the wooden cover so that I could see all of the envelopes hidden within. After a moment of just staring at the parcels of mail, I pick the latest one up and take the letter out gently.  
Annalise,  
I find myself worried about you more than I have been since I took you out of that despicable man’s shack. I know that you’re receiving my letters, because my owl comes back empty-handed and I always giver her explicit instructions to make sure that you are the only one to get them from her. I know you well enough to know that you’re not going to write me back. I know that I’ve offended you and worst, I’ve hurt you when I promised that I never would. I truly am sorry about what occurred that day, I let my emotions get the best of me once again. Then again, that day, all I wanted to do was protect you from all that’s going to happen. Annalise, if certain people discover that you are pregnant and are having a Potter, then they will surely come after you. If they decide to do that then there is no way that I can stop them without forfeiting my own life. I would. Forfeit my life, I mean. You are the only family that I have left and I find myself in a terrible position. Regulus has informed me of your recent romances although I strongly discouraged him to do so. I know that you will be appalled at what I am about to request of you, but I must request it, because it will keep you most certainly alive. Annalise, you must allow society to think that you are pregnant with either Lupin or Black’s child. While absolutely disgusted at the very idea of it, I know that the pureblood customs when it comes to be in a polyamourous relationship will keep you and the child safe. I shall know that you received this letter if my owl comes back empty-handed once more. Annalise, be well and safe.  
With love, Severus  
Once finished with the letter, I discover that I’m crying again. I wipe the tears away and hiss in frustration. I was angry at myself now more than anything. I hated how my feelings were being all squished up and forced out of me like this and I wasn’t entirely sure whether to blame Annalise or the pregnancy. I had received the letter a week ago and had only read it now because I discovered that I could quite easily push these sorts of things out of my mind if I simply did not think about them. Somehow, even with all of his veiled insults and overprotectiveness, I found that Severus’s letter had reassured me. Of what it reassured me, I had no idea, but I discovered that after reading his words that I was much calmer than I was before.  
“Anna, open the door please?” Lukas asks from out in the hallway and I place the wooden box on the window sill while leaving Severus’s latest letter on the bed.  
When I open the door I find that Lukas is alone and can’t help but to raise my eyebrow at him in wonder. Ever since the boys had discovered that Lukas was the baby’s father, we were never left alone together. Of course, we would be left alone in a room for a couple moments, but the others would simply be in the other room doing something so quietly that they could have heard if we breathed differently. I let him in after a moment of standing out in the hall awkwardly and shut the door again, quickly putting up the same wards as last time, but incorporating a silencing spell as well. It would do no one any good if they heard what we would be talking about after all.  
“Why won’t you come to the manor with me?” Lukas hisses at me quietly and I stand, still staring at the doorway for a while before answering him.  
“You know I will, I’m just so tired of everyone else telling me what I need to be doing. I’m the smartest witch of our age and I’ve been through much worse things!” I remind him and turn on him suddenly, “You, you, of all people know this!” I poke him in the chest angrily.  
“Yes, I know that.” He admits barely above a whisper “But have you looked at yourself lately? Hermione, you’re not exactly yourself anymore.” He whispers the truth quietly and I growl at him.  
“I know that too Draco! It’s a freaking battle within myself every day and honestly, I find myself losing to Annalise most of the time nowadays!” I inform him angrily, “Merlin, I feel like I’m losing my mind some days.” I admit and turn away from him to look at the wallpaper.  
“You know coming to the Manor is the best choice, we’d be able to protect you much better there and mum is a great Mediwitch.” He whispers to me and I close my eyes.  
“So is that it then? Your solution is to just give in and merge with Lukas like it’s nothing?” I ask him softly and feel a hand on my shoulder.  
“It’s easier that way. I tried fighting it too, you know, James thought I was getting sick again for a while.” Draco admits and I feel my lips beginning to tremble as my emotions run rampant once more.  
“Severus has been writing me twice a week.” I admit to him and he squeezes my shoulder in reassurance. “Always apologizing and telling me to be careful, he wrote me last week but I only just opened the letter.” I whisper and turn towards the bed and pick the letter up, handing it to him willingly.  
It’s a quiet moment as Lukas reads the letter and I try my hardest not to look at him as he’s doing so. Instead, I find myself looking down at my hands that are resting on my stomach once more. I breathe in deeply as Lukas sets the letter down on the bed without a word. Long seconds stretch into even longer minutes as I wait for him to say something, anything at all.  
“Do you want to do this?” his voice is barely a whisper and when I look into his eyes, I find myself whimpering as see his tears.  
“Oh, Lukas.” I whisper and find myself pulling him into a fierce hug, he wraps his arms around me just as tightly.  
“Look, Hermione, I know that this isn’t the way that you saw having your first child. It defiantly wasn’t the way I wanted to have my firstborn. That night, the night that we… it was the first night that I actually felt like I was doing something right in my life.” He whispers into my hair and I feel him take a deep breath before continuing, “I will never love you like you deserve to be loved, hell, I’ll never love you as much as Remus and Sirius do, but you will always be special to me. That’s our baby in there and I don’t want some other bloke claiming him.” He admits to me and hugs me tighter to him than before.  
“I won’t do it then.” I whisper as I pull away from the hug and look into his icy blue eyes, “Who knows Draco, maybe this baby is the key to changing the future.” I give him a gentle smile to show him that I’m joking and he smiles himself after a moment.  
“This certainly did not happen in our reality.” He whispers and kisses my forehead sincerely before opening the door and effectively breaking the wards. “You should come back downstairs in a while, it’s my turn to make dinner.” He reminds me in a normal voice before shutting the door.  
I pick up the letter and place it in its envelope quietly before sliding them into my wooden box. I stand at the windowsill and look out into the neighborhood as I think about the things that Draco had said. Would it really be that much easier if I just gave in and allowed myself to fully merge with Annalise? I wrinkle my nose after a moment and wonder how it came to be that me, Hermione Granger, would give in so easily when it came to altering her life forever. Then again, I’m not really all Hermione anymore. Arms circle around my waist and effectively knock me out of my reverie.  
“You smell like Lukas.” Remus’s tone is instantly accusatory and I stiffen in his arms as I knew what was about to happen.  
“Remus, he is the father of my baby.” I whisper to him softly and find myself turned around so that I could look into his angry grey eyes.  
“Annalise, I am your boyfriend.” He hisses right back at me and I find myself frowning at how he’s acting.  
“I assure you that we did nothing wrong. All I did was give him a hug and he kissed my forehead goodbye.” I inform him quietly and watch as his eyes flash dangerously for a moment.  
“Why were you touching him at all? I thought you told Sirius and I that you and Lukas were just friends?” He demands a bit louder and I back away from his arms.  
“Remus, we were discussing the baby, about how my brother wants someone else to claim it. It got emotional, but nothing happened.” I tell him the truth in hopes that it will calm him down, but notice that what I’ve said has quite the opposite effect on him.  
“You’re talking to your brother again?” His voice comes out dangerously quiet and I find myself suddenly aware of another presence in the room.  
“Severus has mailed me letters twice a week since the incident occurred. I never reply.” I mummer as my eyes are drawn down to my stomach once more.  
“Moony, you need to calm down.” Sirius offers his advice quietly and I can’t help but to flinch when Remus hits his hand against the wall directly beside my head.  
“What else haven’t you told me Annalise?” he speaks this quietly, “Why did you have locking and silencing spells on the door when you two were in here?” he asks next and I shut my eyes in determination when I realize that I am about to cry again.  
“Remus, please, I tell you about everything. I didn’t think that Severus writing to me mattered, because I never reply. I told you what we were talking about in here.” I whisper to him with my eyes closed and notice how quiet it is after I’ve finished talking.  
“Moony, I think your being just a little too harsh.” Sirius states empathically and Remus growls as a response, I wince as I realize how badly I’ve pissed him off.  
“She consented to be with us Sirius. She knows everything that there is to know about us. She’s not telling us everything and I want to know why.” Remus hisses out and I know what exactly he’s talking about now.  
They had pointed out the moment that I consented to be with them that I needed to tell them everything important about me. I had agreed with them and was questioned about mundane things for days until just a couple of days ago when Sirius had asked a rather personal question and I burst into tears instead of answering him. I hadn’t given him an answer yet and refused to speak about it with them both.  
“Ask me then Remus.” I find myself nearly whimpering from the fear of actually having to tell him, but find the courage to make him ask me anyway.  
“Look at her, Moony, she’s a nervous wreck.” Sirius tries to intervene once more, but he’s barely whispering now and I know that Remus won’t bother to respond to him.  
“How many have bedded you? What exactly are we protecting you from? Why have you never been allowed to go to Hogwarts yet? Where is your mum?” Remus fires his questions at me, but with each one I can hear him growing softer in his tone.  
“Two. Y-your protecting me from myself. My mum is in St. Mungos for attempting to poison my father. My father is muggle and thinks that magic is a delusion.” I answer him weakly and attempt to remember how to breathe. “S-Severus wants you to protect me from myself b-because the only other person besides Lukas to be with me is…my father.” A very high buzzing sound fills my ears and I feel my knees go weak as the memories of my very first moments as Annalise play throughout my mind.  
With the buzzing filling my ears, I can barely hear Remus and Sirius speaking around me, all I know is that these images that I never wanted to see again are playing over and over again in my mind and I can’t make them stop. The bookworm in me knows that I must be having some kind of panic attack, but the very, conscious emotional part of me tells me that I’ve done this before. As suddenly as the images started, they disappear, in their place is the gentle cloak of darkness.  
The first thing that I see when I wake up is Severus holding Remus against the wall with his wand while Sirius watches on from beside me. James and Lukas both stand in the doorway to my room and watch what is going on without a word. I wonder at why they are allowing my brother to do this to one of their friends, but then I remember what had happened and I whimper quietly. Severus is beside me in an instant with his hand on my chin so that I have to look him in the eyes, I have no idea what is going on in his mind but his eyes only narrow more with my reaction of him. I stare back into his eyes, unblinking, until he finally releases my chin and looks elsewhere. It’s only when I try to find a logical solution for what is going on and finding the realization that I had gone almost comatose after one of my panic attacks that I fully understand that Annalise and I had merged completely.  
“Anna? Anna, I am so sorry.” Sirius whispers from beside me and I feel pressure on my hand, but only when I look down at it do I realize that he is holding it.  
I’m not entirely sure of what is going on at the moment and I can’t help but feel as if my disorientation is mostly due to the fact that I had finally given in to becoming Annalise. If I had known that becoming her would force me into this state of mind, I would have seriously considered fighting it more. As it is, I look from where Sirius is holding my hand back to my brother and mentally plead with him to fix me.  
“Annalise, I’m assuming that you can hear me.” Severus starts slowly and I blink at him to let him know that I can, in fact hear him quite clearly. “You have a choice to make and one that you need to think about quite thoroughly. Black tells me that this is the first time that Lupin has forced you into doing something and that it might pertain to his affliction. Whether that it true or not, you may choose to stay with your Marauders and Regulus or I can take you with me to Malfoy Manor.” He speaks this clearly and it’s only when I feel a gentle nudge at the forefront of my brain that I realize that he’s using Legilimency on me so that I can give him an answer.  
Quickly, I run memories through my mind of all of the good times that I had been involved in with my friends and boyfriends without showing a single horrible memory in the midst. I assume that he knows what I want when he pulls out and nods at me silently for a moment. He reaches down and moves a lock of my black hair to the side before leaning down in my ear.  
“You are lucky that I know you love him Annalise. If he hurts you again, I will not be so lenient.” He mummers to me before standing up so that he can pull vials out of his bag and put them on my beside table. “Potter, while I am still wondering at what my sister saw in you to allow you to reproduce with her, I respect you enough to know that you will give her the appropriate potions at the appropriate times.” He glances at Lukas only for a moment before his eyes stare down at me in silence.  
“Snape, you know we’ll take care of her.” Sirius mummers and I can her mumbles of agreements throughout the room.  
“Be that as it may, I want Potter to do this.” He demands sharply, “Annalise has only done this once before and it took her two days to snap out of it then, I believe if Potter and Black are around her enough that she should snap out of it sooner than that.” He speaks as if I’m some kind of science experiment that he’s studied before.  
“I’m not leaving her side either.” Remus whispers and I watch my brothers eye twitch for a moment.  
“Honestly, I don’t care what you do Lupin as long as you never fucking hurt her again.” Severus doesn’t bother to turn around to speak the sentence, but the impact that it has on the room is obvious when I notice that it’s gone completely silent in the room. “Annalise, don’t forget to breathe.” Severus whispers to me quietly and I breathe in obediently. “I’ll come visit you at Potter Manor next week, please try to get better.” He says this softly and I blink at him in response.  
As he leaves, I hear him say something to Lukas in the doorway but don’t bother to listen to intently. My eyes immediately focus on the ceiling above my bed as I mentally begin to analyze myself. It was a strange world that I was in at the moment. It was like I could see and hear everything, but I had to honestly try in order to do so. It felt like there was this huge black weight resting on my heart and it was causing me not to see things clearly. The world seemed to be so much bleaker in my current state of mind. While my bookworm self was currently dictating to Annalise that she must have some form of manic depression, Annalise remains practically comatose in the real world. It’s not until Remus’s face appears in front of mine that I realize he’s speaking to me and I try to focus in on what he’s saying.  
“I never meant to hurt you Annalise, you have to believe me. I just got so overwhelmed with what I was feeling, my wolf was going crazy because you smelled like him and I went overboard. I should have never brought it up when you started crying that first time, but I was too curious. I hurt you and I’m so fucking sorry for that.” He whispers to me and I watch as he bends down, I feel warmth on my cheek and can only assume that he’s kissed it.  
“Let’s lie down with her for a bit, Moony.” Sirius whispers this weakly from beside me, “Anna, I’m going to put you on your side so that your more comfortable okay?” he asks me quietly and I try to find it within myself to blink, but just simply can’t.  
He moves me onto my side anyways and I’m grateful for it, because I can never fall asleep on my back. A moment later, his chest comes into view as he lies right in front of me and I can feel his arms loop around my waist protectively. Another set of arms wraps around my stomach and I feel surrounded by warmth as the darkness pervades my mind once more.


	10. Chapter Ten

“Anna?” I feel a gentle hand stroking the back of my head before I register the fact that I’m even awake. “You need to take your potions.” I grip the closest thing to me and hide my face in it instinctively.  
“Hiding in his shirt isn’t going to help you.” A gentle voice chuckles out and I groan to myself mentally.  
It was unrealistic really, that they would just expect me to wake up and immediately take my medicine. I hated the stuff, the smell alone made me sick, and I’d begun to abhor taking it. Sirius’s hand strokes my head for another moment before I feel him beginning to pull away from me. I squinch my eyes shut in utter denial of the fact that I had to get up, but it only lasts for a couple of seconds before I give up and open my eyes.  
It had been four days since the attack and I had stayed in bed the entire time, secretly I had used the last day as a way to get back as the boys for how they were babying me. My plan had backfired though, the boys had only worried even more than before. Even now—Sirius was staring down at me as if he was scared about the way that I would react to having to wake up. These attacks that I—Annalise—had, had did not occur because I didn’t get my way… at least Annalise’s memory said that they didn’t. Really, they only occurred when a certain person in my life is brought up in conversation and I’m forced to talk about things that I don’t want to.  
“Here, Anna, blue one first.” Lukas hands me the two vials slowly, effectively breaking the moment between Sirius and I.  
I do as he says quickly and refuse to breathe for a moment, but it only makes the nausea worse and I whimper for a moment. I stay still for a moment and breathe in and out as slowly as possible before taking the cracker that Lukas had offered me. I nibble at it slowly and wait for the feeling to wear off before attempting to move. As I sit up, I notice everyone take a step closer to me as if I would need help. It wasn’t that I was utterly weak or anything, just that they were afraid that I would collapse due to what James had taken to simply calling ‘problems’. I sigh and scoot to the edge of the bed without a word before noticing that there was a person missing from the room. In fact, he had been missing from the room since that first day.  
“R-Remus?” I whisper quietly and feel my heart drop at the fact that I hadn’t even been worried about him until the ‘darkness’ had worn off.  
“Anna, why don’t we get you set up so that you can eat?” James asks kindly and I notice that everyone is avoiding my eyes.  
“No. Remus.” My voice gets stronger this time and Sirius grips my shoulder gently.  
“Remus isn’t here right now, Anna.” He speaks this gently but I whimper anyway, I hadn’t wanted this to happen after all.  
My hands suddenly become very interesting and I focus on them for a while, I attempt to keep myself from crying, but fail epically when I look back up into Sirius’s eyes. I could tell that he was worried about me, a soft frown creasing his otherwise adorably handsome face. Small wrinkles appear on his forehead as he sees my tears.  
“Hey, no, just don’t okay? He’ll be back soon.” He reassures me quietly and I shake my head at what he says, because I didn’t want to think of him leaving in the first place.  
“Annalise?” A quiet voice speaks up from behind me and I shut my eyes for a moment, I had forgotten that he was here, had forgotten that he had even existed for a moment.  
“Regulus… we’re kind of in the middle of something.” Sirius speaks this as nicely as he can, but I can tell that he didn’t want to deal with his younger brother at the moment by the edge in his tone.  
“It’s fine, I mean I can come back later.” Regulus says this gently, “Annalise, if you need to talk, you know you can always come to me.” He offers softly and I hear him close the door on his way out.  
“Food?” I ask after a silent moment and realize that I couldn’t entirely face my emotions at the moment, hell, I couldn’t even face my thoughts at the moment let alone reality.  
“Yea, food.” Sirius repeats quietly and I turn to lean back against the pillows as he grabs the tray that I hadn’t even noticed on my bedside table.  
I grip the tray once he puts it on my lap and look at its contents for a moment—this would be my first meal in four days. Its contents were as follows: blueberry pancakes, half of an orange, a glass of butterbeer, and a small side of chocolate shavings—at this point I know that it’s for the pancakes. Sirius never did like to have his pancakes alone, he always had to have something to put on them other than syrup and that was either more fruit of some kind or chocolate.  
“Thank you.” I look up at the boys in the room and give then a gentle smile to let them know that I’m being serious.  
“It’s nothing.” Luke speaks for the first time since I had woken up and I look up at him for a moment, his eyes tell me that he’s longing to help me, but him and I both know that he couldn’t anymore.  
“Let’s leave ‘em alone for a bit.” James whispers to his brother and I watch them leave without another word to me and I have a feeling that they just wanted Sirius and I to talk.  
I sit for a moment and chew some of the pancakes before Sirius even bothers to speak. I cut the cakes into smaller bits as he says what he needs to say, more out of the necessity to stop myself from getting to emotional rather than the fact that I might choke.  
“Remus, when he woke up… he felt utterly horrible. Anna, he doesn’t think that he deserves you anymore. Actually, he doesn’t think he deserved to be with you in the first place.” He whispers to me and I continue to cut up my food without a word. “He just needs some time to get his thoughts together… he’ll come back once he realizes how big of an idiot he’s being.” He adds gently.  
“I just have just told you… he wouldn’t have left if I had just told him.” I whisper and I feel myself beginning to shake as anxiety claws its way into my thoughts.  
“No, Anna, it is not your fault.” Sirius says this loudly and I flinch at the decibel that he used, but say nothing in return. “Eat, please?” he asks gently and I eat some more of the pancake that’s on the plate.  
After I eat the rest of the pancake, I push the tray away and curl up into Sirius’s chest without a second thought. He wraps his arms around me tightly and I breathe in his scent—a mixture of grass, lemonseed oil, and a hint of something I hadn’t yet identified. Somehow, even though it bugged me that I hadn’t thought of what the particular part of his smell was, it still comforted me and relaxed my breathing. He says nothing to me, letting me relax in his arms without adding any more stress, other than to ask if I was done eating and then to ask Kreacher to take the tray.  
“Sirius?” I whisper after Merlin only knows how long and I feel him grip me tighter to his chest for a second before he answers.  
“Yea, sweetheart?” he mummers and I feel his lips moving against my hair, I take another deep breath before lifting my head up to look into his eyes.  
“Never leave me.” It wasn’t a question, it was barely a statement, it was the first demand that I had made of him.  
“Never, you don’t have to worry about me going anywhere.” He answers and kisses my forehead gently to reassure me even more.  
XXX  
“Annalie?” I cringe at the nickname before looking up and smiling at the dark onyx eyes that look at me from the doorway.  
“Yea, Regulus?” I answer him and put the letters that I was looking at back in the box where they belonged.  
“Come here, I have something to show you.” He mummers and offers his hand to me, a moment of panic occurs before I realize that this was Regulus that I was talking about, he would never hurt me.  
“Okay.” I put the box by the windowsill and quietly take his hand in mine before he leads me out of my room and up the set of staircases at the end of the hall.  
“With my brother and your little friends gone to Potter Manor, I thought that you and I could hang out for a while.” He explains to me softly before opening the only door on the fourth floor of the Manor.  
Inky black sky fills my vision as I look up and smile instinctively. I let Regulus lead me to the edge of the roof and once I’m safely sitting, I take a deep breathe of the cool night air. I hadn’t been outside in forever it seemed like. I feel Regulus sitting down beside me and glance at him quickly, only to find him looking at me, so I quickly look down at my hands.  
“I know that you’re leaving tomorrow after breakfast, but Annalie, I need to tell you something before then.” He whispers to me gently and I feel myself stiffening.  
“Okay?” My voice comes out hesitant and I pull my legs up and turn so that I’m sitting cross-legged in front of him.  
He doesn’t say or do anything for a moment and then he mirrors my position slowly before taking my hands back in his. I breathe in quickly as I look down at our hands and then back at his face as I see the way that he’s looking at me. I didn’t really know what he was going to say, but I had an inkling.  
“I have to admit that when Severus came here with you, I was surprised. Once you were healed, It amazed me how unalike you two were.” He says this quietly and I feel a small smile rising on my face. “Annalie, you are amazing. I know that I’m not exactly who you thought of having a future with b-“ A sharp rap on the open door stops Regulus from continuing and I shut my eyes instantly and only open them after I feel a hand gripping my shoulder tightly.  
“I was wondering where you were.” Sirius’s voice is tight and I can tell that he’s fighting to control himself.  
“I thought I’d share our hiding spot Sirius.” Regulus explains lightly and I bite my lip in an attempt to stop it from shaking so much.  
“Just our hiding spot?” Sirius asks tersely and his hand grips my upper arm for a moment before pulling me upwards.  
“Sirius, pl-“ I start, but barely get the words out.  
“I’m not trying to steal her from you if that’s what you think.” Regulus’s voice belts out suddenly.  
“Oh yes, you just brought Annalie up here on the rooftop in the middle of the night to talk to her about how you feel about her—without trying to convince her to be with you?” Sirius’s voice is cruel and I flinch, but choose not to say a word.  
“It’s true. Believe it or not, I can tell that she doesn’t need anything else on her plate. Sirius, I couldn’t just not bloody tell her.” The younger sibling breathes out softly and turns to look off the rooftop.  
“Sirius, please?” I whisper softly and he looks down at me for a moment with his eyes narrowed before he looks back at his brother.  
“We’ll talk more about this later, brother.” Sirius grips my hand tightly in his and pulls me into the house without another word.  
I have no choice but to let him lead me back to my rooms, his grip on my hand so tight that it began to hurt just a bit. By the time that we arrived and Sirius had shut the door rather loudly, I could barely breathe from having to jog behind him in order not to be dragged the entire way. Nausea comes to me in waves and I slowly sit down on the bed with my head between my knees—as if that tip really worked.  
“Are you alright?” his voice is thin and I wonder if he is even truly concerned about me or if his rage is covering his other emotions.  
“F-fine.” I sniff softly and keep my head down for a couple more minutes before moving and standing myself up.  
“Are you sure? I mean, because if he even thought about hurting you, I would kill him.” Sirius informs me gently and I notice that the anger is completely gone from his face, only to be replaced with concern.  
“Regulus would never hurt me Sirius, not on purpose anyway.” I remind him and he rolls his eyes at my reply.  
“You’re mine. Not anyone else’s.” he whispers and I bite my lip instinctively as an image of Remus pops into my mind. “Hey.” He mummers and I let him pull me closer to him so that we’re practically touching.  
“I know Sirius, no one else wants me.” I sigh and he groans quietly before giving me a tight hug.  
“Not true. Anna, you’ve got Lukas and Regulus pining away for you.” He says this softly and I groan myself as I can’t help but to roll my eyes.  
“Lukas does not want to be with me. He just wants to be around me all of the time because of the baby.” I whisper the truth to him and he nods without replying.  
“Regulus?” he teases and I can’t help but to giggle.  
“Your brother has your taste in women.” I inform him and his fingers twist playfully into my side causing me to squeal out before bursting into giggles.  
“That he does.” He mummers and I feel his lips brush against my cheek gently causing me to still my movements as his fingers still their own action.  
Our lips find each other’s easily and I feel myself melt into him after only a moment. My fingers find their place in his hair and his go straight to my waist as our lips part slowly. Fingers edge their way around the hem of my shirt for a second before travelling upwards and our kiss deepens. It’s only when his fingers touch my stomach that we finally pull apart. I let my face fall into his shirt as I try to catch my breath and I hear him chuckle into my hair.  
“Anna, you are amazing.” He admits to me and my heart skips a beat at the words that I had only heard once before.  
“Oh, Sirius…” I breathe in softly and find myself kissing him once more, this time going much slower and gentler than before.  
There’s a knock at the door and I pull away from him unwillingly, I admit that I may have even been pouting a little bit. Sirius only points at the mattress before turning to the door and I fight the urge to tell him to shove it, before doing what he directs me to do. I sit on the bed cross-legged and straighten my hair out quickly before Sirius unlocks and opens the door a crack to see who it is. I watch his back go rigid and I swallow quietly in fear of who could be behind the door. My room is quite big and I could see Sirius’s lips moving quickly, but I couldn’t hear him say a word of it. He was speaking so lowly that I knew that he didn’t want me to hear what he was saying to begin with.  
“Sirius?” I ask quietly and he turns to look at me for a moment.  
“Anna, you’ve got to promise me that you’re not going to have an attack.” He says this gently and I frown at him for a moment as I think about what could cause me to react in that way.  
“Okay…” I answer him hesitantly and he gives me a look as if he knew that I couldn’t make the promise that I had just made.  
I shrug my shoulders as he turns to talk to the mysterious person behind the door for another minute before he finally steps back. I watch in confusion as Sirius actually makes his way over to the fireplace to stand, before I realize that he’s watching the door. I look back at the doorway just in time to see the door swing fully open and my heart nearly flies out of my chest. I stare at them for just a moment before I find myself flying at them.  
“You stupid! Idiot! You stupid idiot, bloody fool!” I shriek at him as I finally reach him, he catches me within his arms quite easily and holds me as tears pour out of my eyes. “You, you left me!” I accuse him angrily but my sobbing only makes me sound even more pitiful than I actually am.  
“I know.” Remus whispers into my hair and I only sob harder as my arms make my way around his neck and I cling to him desperately.  
“Never, don’t ever, please—Remus, please stay.” I plead with him and he grips me tightly to him, one hand on the back of my head and the other at the bottom of my back.  
“Annalise, I was a fool.” He states this to me gently and I shake my head at him, I didn’t want to talk about this, I just wanted to be in his arms for a while.  
“Why don’t you lay her down Moony?” Sirius speaks up softly and I feel myself being easily picked up.  
The fabric of my comforter touches my back and I cling to Remus desperately, so that he couldn’t leave. He sits down and I rearrange myself in his lap, my head firmly in the crook of his neck as I continue to cry over him. I can feel his hands stroking my back gently and I know that he’s waiting for me to calm down, but I know that I can’t at the moment. I hear the door shut behind me and lock before another weight is added to the bed. Sirius’s hand gently touches the back of my head before landing on my shoulder softly.  
“You left.” I repeat after being able to breathe easily, Remus responds by gripping me tighter to him.  
“I didn’t want to hurt you anymore.” He whispers to me gently, “I wanted you to be happy, not… well not catatonic.” He sighs at his words, but I know that he’s struggling with his emotions and I’m just happy that I can understand what he’s saying at all.  
It’s amazing the fact that one can be so worn out and only sleep for a few hours before being completely energized. I find myself completely awake at three o’clock in the morning covered in sweat. Groaning quietly, I roll away from the chest that I was currently leaning against and sit up slowly. It takes me a moment to get used to my surroundings before I feel a gentle squeeze to my left hand. Worried eyes stare back at me and I quickly look back down at my hands, I was in no mood to speak at the moment. I climb down to the foot of the bed slowly and get out of it before making my way out of my own room. I knew that Remus would follow me so I wait in the hall for him. When he comes out of the room, he grips my hand tightly before leading me towards his old room without a word. I wonder if he feels the tension between us as well as I or is it just me that feels like we need to do something in order to make things right again. He opens the door for me and I step inside as I reach for the light switch. With the lights on, I could clearly see the cobwebs and dust that was coating the room and my nose wrinkles for a moment. I begin waving my wand quietly and meticulously cleaning out all of the muck. Once done, I look to Remus and see that he’s watching me with a look of amusement on his face.  
“It was dirty.” I defend myself and he shakes his head before gripping my wrist and pulling me against his chest.  
“I missed you Annalise.” He whispers this softly and I find myself swallowing in nervousness, hazel eyes stare down at me so intensely that it seems like all rational thought leaves my body in an instant and I bite my lip subconsciously.  
“I missed you too.” I answer him and his lip quirks into half a smirk for a moment before he leans down and places his lips against mine.  
I kiss him back gently and Remus knows that this means that I want to go slowly, I hum softly as he tries to pull me even closer. While Sirius kissed with a fire that left me knowing that I was most certainly his, Remus kissed me so gently that I knew he was treating me as if I were glass. One was not better than the other, I loved them both the same, but I had been with them only a short period of time and I could already tell that they were different when it came to many things. I find myself being picked up gently, my lips stay connected with Remus’s as he places me on the bed, only once that I am lying down does his tongue slowly drift across my lower lip. My hands find themselves caught in his sandy hair as he kisses me tightly with a new kind of hunger—one that I had never fully associated with him.  
“Have you? With Padfoot?” He asks me this quietly as he drops his lips to my collarbone and my eyes pop open quickly.  
“R-Remus, I haven’t been with anyone since….” I cannot finish that sentence, but he kisses me as a distraction.  
“It’s going to be fine, I would never hurt you.” He mummers to me gently and I bite my lip instead of saying anything.  
“O-Okay.” I find myself agreeing to him without even realizing what I’m doing at first, it’s only until his lips find mine again that I realize the situation that I’ve just put myself in. “S…” I force myself to pull away from his inviting lips, “Slowly.” I whimper and he nods his agreement.  
When our lips meet up again, I find myself immersed in the boy above me, my hands gripping his hair tightly as he kisses me with a new type of aggression. When his lips find the spot behind my ear that only he knows about, I can barely contain the gentle moan that escapes. His lips wander my neck and collarbone for minutes before his hands slip up my shirt slowly. As his left hand cups me softly, his right hand holds my waist tightly and I find myself kissing Remus with a newfound sentiment. He kneads me for a moment before he pulls away and I whimper from the immediate loss of contact only to sigh as he pulls me up with him. Gently, he pulls my shirt over my head before unclasping my bra and laying me back on the mattress. Nervousness finds its way back into my stomach as he leans over me and stares unashamedly.  
“Remus?” My voice squeaks out and his eyes snap back up to mine—instantly I could tell that he was having a hard time controlling himself—his eyes turning from hazel to a dull yellow.  
“Mine.” He growls and leans down against me once more, his lips slamming into mine with a fierceness that I had never associated with him.  
His hands explore my top quickly as if he wanted to memorize my skin as quickly as possible and his lips find their way down to my chest almost as fast. My hands grip his shoulders gently and I can’t conceal my moans any longer. Draco had been gentle and slow with me, but he had only been on a mission that night, with Remus it was like we had all the time in the world and he just wanted to swallow me whole. My hands wander down his back until they reach the edge of his sleeping pants and stay there as Remus begins to do wonderful things. My stomach slowly begins to tighten and I find myself breathing harder than I’m accustomed too. Remus’s shirt disappears quickly and I barely have the time to think that he must have vanished it before his lips find my own again. I find myself whimpering against him, begging him for something that I had no idea about, pleading with him to hurry up with it even though I had asked him to go slow.  
“Please.” I whine against his lips and he smirks at me as his hands find the band of my pajama bottoms.  
“What?” he asks with a tone that says he just wants to hear me say it again.  
“Please, R-Remus.” I whimper and feel myself grow naked against him, “Oh.” I sigh softly at the contact as his lips land on my neck once more.  
Instinctively, my legs separate underneath him and I feel him lower himself against me as he bites my shoulder gently for a moment. I find myself whining and whimpering underneath him as his lips finally meet mine and I feel him lift himself up. His kisses are gentle this time and I know that he must have himself under control once more as he pulls away to look into my eyes.  
“Are you sure about this Annalise?” his voice is raspy, much deeper than I had ever heard and I take quiet delight in the fact that I had made him like that.  
“Yes, Remus, p-please.” I whisper to him, my eyes meeting his hazel ones so that he knew that I was being serious about this.  
“Ok, love.” Is all he says before he kisses me softly and I feel his hand wander downwards.  
As I feel him find my entrance, I grip him against me tightly and he kisses me until I relax once more. I let my hands fall to my side as he begins to push and I grip the comforter of his mattress tightly as he slowly slides into me. It hurts for a moment, but Remus continues and slowly continues his motions. Pain seems to meld into amazingness and I let my hands grip Remus against me tightly, our lips meshing together as he moves inside of me slowly. My entire body tightens more and more and my breathing seems to be out of control before Remus dares to move faster—his lips finding their place against the crook of my neck as he quickens his motions. I can barely control myself now, barely coherent of my surroundings as my hands clutch his back tightly and move against him. His hands grip my waist securely as his lips move up and into that special place beside my ear. My entire world melts away as I gasp and feel the tightness in my body burst into something amazing. Above me, Remus moans quietly as I tighten up around him and he tightens his hold on my waist as he finishes himself.  
As my world slowly comes back to me, I let my hands fall to my sides as Remus stills himself on top of me. He sighs gently before moving his lips from my neck so that he could kiss me gently for a moment more. I feel him lifting himself off of me slowly and I whine as he picks himself up—he says nothing while he picks me up for a moment and pulls the covers back. Only when I’m under the covers and situated against his side firmly does he finally speak up.  
“I love you, Annalise.” He whispers this in my ear gently and I look up into his eyes for a moment, I could tell that he was being serious just from the way that he was looking back at me.  
“Oh, Remus.” I kiss him softly for a moment before pulling away, “I love you too.” I watch as a small smile slides onto his face and his arms slide around my waist. He holds me to his chest tightly as I begin to get drowsy and I know that I should go back to my rooms, but I’m so tired that I fall asleep after only a short while of lying there.  
XXX  
When I wake up, I know that I’m alone by how cool I am, if Remus or Sirius had been beside me then I wouldn’t have been chilly. I whine as I realize that I am slightly sore and roll over in protest of my body being this way. That, of course, was not the most brilliant way to protest my body being sore and I growl quietly at myself as I sit up with the sheet wrapped around me. Flashes of the night before come to mind as I realize that I am not in my room, but Remus’s. I can’t help but to feel a little bit of happiness at the thought that Remus had finally said that he loved me, no, not just a little bit… actually, it was quite a bit of happiness. I reach for the nearest article of clothing and pull it on over my head before throwing off the covers and standing alongside the bed. Remus’s shirt went to mid-thigh and I shortly discover that it was the only thing in the room that had made it without being somewhat damaged. I frown at the fact that I had quite literally lost a pair of my favorite pajamas last night.  
I open the door into the hallway slowly and peek out just to make sure that no one was out there before hurrying to my door. I was seconds away from opening it when I heard arguing on the other side of it. I pause my movement and feel my hand sliding back down as I hear my name being brought up in the conversation that was being spoken not to quietly. I let my ear rest against the cool wood of my door so that I can better head and concentrate.  
“So you’re not going to tell her?” Remus demands and there’s a rustling of paper.  
“She doesn’t need to know Moony. It’s not going anywhere anyways.” Sirius mutters and I hear something shutting.  
“You shouldn’t have been doing it to begin with. Don’t you love her?” Remus barks angrily.  
“Of course I love her! If I didn’t then I wouldn’t have been here the entire time you were gone gallivanting around with other witches!” I feel my chest tighten slightly at the words that Sirius growls out, but stay still at the door.  
“I was not gallivanting Padfoot. There was one witch and we didn’t even kiss. She was the bloody one to help me realize how important Annalise was to me.” Remus defends himself quickly.  
“Are you ever going to tell James how close you and Lily are?” Sirius shoots back and my bottom lip begins to shake as I listen to their argument.  
“That has no bloody thing to do with telling Annalise!” Remus shouts angrily.  
“I’ll tell you what Moony, since you’re so close to her, why don’t you just bloody tell her and get it over with?” Sirius growls, “Bloody hell, I don’t want to hurt her like you did.” He adds.  
“What I did and what you are doing are two separate things Sirius and you know it. I may have abandoned her when she needed me, but I did not do what you’re doing!” Remus hisses and a cool hand on my shoulder makes me flinch.  
“What are you doing?” James asks amusedly and I frown at the door for a moment.  
“They’re in there arguing about me.” I inform him before turning to look at his face.  
“About what?” he asks me this and I can see that he’s become curious at the situation, I sigh as I fiddle with the hem of Remus’s shirt.  
“I’m not entirely sure.” I admit and groan quietly as I see Lukas exit his bedroom and head straight towards me.  
“What in the bloody hell are you wearing?” he demands loudly and I can hear the boys on the other side of the door quiet down.  
“It’s a shirt Luke.” I explain gently, but can’t stop the giggle as he frowns at me.  
“Your nine weeks—“ he starts angrily and the door opens just in time to shut him up before he begins another mini-rant.  
“What’s going on out here?” Sirius demands and I can tell that he is still quite angry from the conversation that he was having beforehand.  
“It’s nothing, Sirius.” I assure him gently, “Luke is just being an over protective dolt.” I duck underneath his arm as I’m saying this and head straight for my closet.  
I can hear the boys talking in the bedroom as I pull Remus’s shirt off of me and find a comfortable pair of jeans to change into. I’m pulling a shirt on as the door opens and I hurry to have it pulled down so that no one sees anything. Remus watches me quietly as I finish buttoning my pants and I feel like I’ve done something wrong.  
“Sirius has something that he needs to tell you.” Remus explains to me softly and I frown instinctively, this could not be good news at all, not from what I heard of their conversation anyways.  
“Okay.” I answer as I follow him out of the closet and he sits me down on the edge of the bed.  
“I’m going to be downstairs if you need me, okay?” he asks me this softly and I nod, even though I wanted him to be here.  
I watch Remus open the door and lock it on his way out silently. The room was filled with tension and I breathe in quietly as I realize that something very bad was about to happen. I could feel it in the air now, it felt just the same as it did the night before Draco and I came to this reality. Sirius clears his throat after a moment and I turn to look at him. He was standing by the window with a wooden box in his hands and he was staring at it hatefully, as if the box itself had done something wrong.  
“Sirius?” I ask quietly, my voice barely above a whisper, but he doesn’t look at me for another long while and my nerves only get worse as time goes on.  
“Anna, I’ve been messing up.” He whispers to me and finally comes to sit beside me on the mattress.  
“What?” I mummer, confused at the way that he was speaking, how could he have messed up when he was around me basically twenty-four seven?  
“Marlene wrote me while you were… well, while you weren’t responding.” He mummers as he looks at the box.  
“Marlene? Y-your ex?” I find myself asking even though I already know the answer and he nods in response.  
“I wasn’t sure if you would want me after you were fine or if you’d want me to leave like Remus.” He explains quietly as he opens the lid of the box.  
Inside of the box that he had so hatefully stared at were envelopes, much like the box that I had for the letter that Severus had wrote to me, but these envelopes were written with spirally calligraphy that could only belong to a girl. I notice that Sirius’s hand is trembling slightly as he picks up the first envelope.  
“Have you responded?” I ask him and he winces at how quiet my voice is, he must have known me better than I thought in order for him to know that my voice got quieter the worst that I was hurt.  
“Yes.” He says this quickly as if it would help him say what he needed to say, “Anna, these letters… they’re nothing. Marlene is nothing compared to you, you know that.” He whispers, his tone pleading with me to understand as he hands me the letter in his hands.  
I open it without responding to him, noticing that the letter was dated yesterday, and unfold it slowly. I needed to know what they were writing about before I could speak to him at all, needed to know what was being said, what Sirius had been hiding from me for three weeks.  
My Sirius,  
Has she gone yet? I know that you’ve told me that you don’t want her to leave—that you are in love—but she cannot simply be good for you. You’ve told me so many things about her, Sirius, all of them bad that I must figure that you want a way out of the relationship. While you’ve refused to meet up with me until now, I hope that in light of what I’ve just written that you will. Sirius, she is too needy, too emotional, too bloody boring for you. I understand that you think that you are in love with her, but didn’t Remus think the same thing before leaving her? Maybe if you leave her as well, she’ll go back to the youngest Potter the way that she is supposed to. Didn’t you write me about how close they’ve been recently? She’s too bloody controversial for you, you deserve someone better than Potter and Lupin’s leftovers, you certainly deserve someone better than a bloody Snape. Please think about meeting with me tonight, I would make it worth your while!  
Your, Marlene  
My hands shake as I read her words and only after I finish reading the letter do I realize that I’m crying. Was I really that bad of a girlfriend? Suddenly, the world seemed to be crashing down around me and I felt as if I was nothing all over again. I feel someone yanking, tearing the paper away from me before Sirius grips my face tightly, forcing me to look at him.  
“Anna, I love you, I love you, she is nothing.” Sirius pleads with me gently, “Nothing has happened, nothing will.” He begs me to understand.  
His dark eyes stare down at me and I can tell that he’s in pain, I could tell that he was telling me the truth, and I feel myself breathing again. My eyes shut as I hear the crinkle of paper and it feels as if my heart squeezes within my chest as my tears begin to fall even quicker than before. I was nothing to him, too needy, too emotional, for him to truly care about me. Why was he even staying if he didn’t want me to begin with? I didn’t understand, I didn’t understand how Sirius could be writing this girl about me without my even knowing, how he could hide something this huge away from me.  
“What do you need? What do you want me to do?” Sirius whispers quietly, his voice defeated as if he knew that whatever we had was over.  
“L-Luke.” I whimper the name out before I can even think about what was asked of me, I feel the bed move and the door open after only a moment.  
I open my eyes and stare at the box of horrible letters as I feel myself beginning to sob and only turn away from the horrid things when the door shuts and I see that only Lukas has come in. I fling myself at him quickly, he catches me and holds me to him as I finally let myself go and begin to truly weep. He picks me up and brings me to the bed without a word, choosing to be quiet as he holds me. There were no spells in place and I could barely speak enough to do them myself, I knew that whatever we said could be heard through the door and for once I didn’t care one bit.  
“I want to go home.” I demand quietly and he grips me against him tightly.  
“Anna, you can’t.” he whispers this and I know that he knows what I’m speaking about, I just wanted to go back to my old reality, at least I was used to the pain there.  
“H-he doesn’t love m-me. I’m w-worthless to him.” I sob into his chest and feel him stroking my back gently.  
“If he didn’t love you, he wouldn’t have had the courage to tell you.” He whispers but I shake my head into his chest.  
“He didn’t w-want too.” I whimper quietly, “why? W-why would he…” I ask him softly and he doesn’t answer for a long while.  
“I’m not sure why he ever replied to her, Anna, but if you look in the box you can see what he’s written back to her.” He answers me gently but the idea of looking at any of those letters make me sick to my stomach and I whimper.  
“I… don’t feel so good.” I whisper to him and realize that what I’m saying is quite true, I could barely breathe, I was getting dizzy even though I was staying in one spot, and my head was beginning to ache severely.  
“Do you want to go see mum?” he asks me quickly and I nod without a second thought, this sort of pain was different than what I was used too. “Let me get your clothes.” He pulls himself away from me, but I grip his arm so that he has to look down at me.  
“G-get Remus and Sirius.” I plead quietly and let go of his arm as I feel myself swaying from dizziness, while I was incredibly hurt, while I didn’t even know if he wanted me, I needed Sirius just as much as I needed Remus.  
When Lukas disappears out of the door and I can hear him running down the stairs, I grip the bedpost as tightly as I can and attempt to stand up. Holding onto the post for dear life, my legs shake as they fully support my weight and I look down instinctively. Nausea overwhelms me as I notice dark red streaks on my legs and the door bursts open just as I’m about to scream. They stand in the door in horror for a moment—Remus and Sirius both—before Sirius finally bursts into action and darts in my direction. He picks me up quickly as I begin to sob again, for a completely different reason, I wasn’t supposed to be bleeding. Was I losing my baby? Oh god, had I hurt him? My eyes shut as Sirius runs through the house and to the nearest fireplace without a word. I feel him shift me and grab a handful of something before throwing it into the fire as he screams the name of our destination: “POTTER MANOR!”


	11. Chapter Eleven

Things start flashing in and out the moment that we land out of the fireplace. It feels as if there’s a huge weight sitting on my chest and a loud buzzing fills my ears. I couldn’t hear anything that was going on other than that horrible buzzing noise and I have to admit that it was terrifying. The pain in my lower stomach is indescribable and from the limited amount of vision that I had—I could tell that I wasn’t the only one who was freaking out. Above me, Sirius’s face is pinched and pale as he lies me down on a hard, flat surface and is quickly pushed away. I slide my eyes shut and I give in to the darkness as the pain reaches new limits.   
The first thing that I’m aware of when I reach consciousness is that my stomach hurts horribly and that I felt incredibly weak. The second thing that I notice is that I can fully hear and feel things again. Soft breaths fill the room along with steady beeping that I assumed was my heartbeat. As I hear someone shuffling around the room, memories flash into my mind and instantly my heart begins to hurt a little bit more. I let my eyes slide open and take in the darker green of the ceiling as my mind starts to wake up a little more and the pain gets a little worse.   
“Annalise?” I hear someone breathe in quietly and faces swarm above me causing me to groan as I try to sit up.   
“Oh, sweetheart, no, you need to stay lying down.” A gentle hand pushes my shoulder down and I give in without much of a fight.   
“What h-happened?” I whimper quietly and someone picks my hand up and grips it tightly before their face comes into view.   
“Anna, you’re fine. Everything’s fine.” Sirius assures me quietly and I find myself relaxing a little bit more when I see his face.   
“Hmm?” I mummer as I look into his eyes and notice that he looks worn out and rough as if he hadn’t slept or washed for days.   
“Annalise. You almost experienced a miscarriage due to high blood pressure and high levels of stress, but I was able to stabilize you.” An older women informs me quietly and my eyes meet up with hers as I realize who she must be.   
“Anna, sweetie, I’d like you to meet my mum.” Luke introduces us formally and I swallow softly as I realize that the enormity of the situation.   
“It’s n-nice to meet you Mrs. Potter.” I whisper quietly and she gives me a nice smile in return.   
“I believe that we have some things to talk about concerning the baby. I’ve only just been informed that I’m going to be a grandmother.” She speaks softly and glances at Lukas before turning back to me.   
“Yes ma’am.” I agree with her without much hesitation and she nods once more at me before leaving the room silently.   
“Everything’s going to be fine, Anna,” Sirius mummers and then bends down to kiss me.   
I feel his lips touch my forehead and close my eyes at the amount of comfort that surrounds me at that moment. His cheek stays cuddled against my forehead and I pick my hand up to hold him there for another moment. The pain of finding out is still embedded down deep, but Sirius being close to me heals the wound somewhat.   
“Annalise, are you okay?” I hear someone mummer from the doorway, but I keep my eyes closed without answering him for a moment.   
“She’s fine.” Remus speaks up without me having to say anything at all, “Just met Luke’s mum.” He says this as if that explained it all.   
“Of course, she does tend to be involved in drama all the bloody time.” Severus drawls as he gets closer to the bed.   
“Always.” I mumble quietly and I drop my hand so that Sirius knows to pull up, before opening my eyes and looking into the worried, annoyed eyes of my brother.   
“Always.” Severus repeats just as softly and I take a shallow breath—all that my lungs would give at the moment—as I realize how long it’s been since we’ve spoken.   
“I’m sorry.” I whisper this quietly to him before dropping my eyes to the comforter wrapped around me.   
“You have nothing to be sorry for, Annalise.” Severus states quietly, “I reacted horribly and that is my fault, not yours.” He assures me before taking my hands in his in a comforting gesture.   
“Sev-“ I start to speak, but get cut off quickly.   
“I’ve decided that you’d be better off in your situation if you and I weren’t bickering nonstop. You must understand Annalise, that I just want what’s best for you.” He whispers and I can tell that he is only speaking to me at the moment—almost as if he’s blocking everyone else out.   
“You weren’t what caused the stress Severus.” I assure him gently, but he just brushes it off as if he doesn’t care about that matter.  
“Nevertheless, I’m not going to fight with you if you choose to stay here.” He mumbles to me and I can’t help but to give him a gentle smile at the way that he was reacting to the situation.   
“The baby?” I ask my sibling out of curiosity, knowing that he must have spoken to Mrs. Potter about my health before coming to visit me.   
A small trill of nervousness rises up as I watch Severus drop his eyes to my stomach and then raise them up to meet Remus’s stare. My hands are placed back on my lap as he says nothing to me for a moment before taking a deep breath and looking back into my eyes.   
“ I think that’s something that you’re going to have to speak to your boyfriend about—provided he doesn’t leave you before he gets the statement out.” He sneers quietly, but I can tell that he is more worried than anything else.   
My eyes go from watching my brother to travelling around the room in order to stare at all of its occupant. Lukas stands at the foot of my bed quietly, but his eyes are on my stomach and I can see that he is confused. Standing on the right side of my bed is both Sirius and Remus, one looking as if he wanted to cry and the other looking as if he wanted to comfort me.   
“Remus?” My voice comes out unnaturally high and I flinch as I realize how extremely nervous I am about the situation all of a sudden.   
“Annalise, if I had known that it was a possibility when—“ he cuts himself off and restarts quickly, “I didn’t know that this could happen…if I had known then I wouldn’t have allowed it to happen at all.” He whispers.   
“What? What’s happened?” I question him loudly, I could tell that what he was about to say was something quite important to me and the very idea that everyone knew but me was making me all the more anxious.  
“When a werewolf finds his mate, the wolf’s instinct to either get their partner pregnant as quickly as possible or to physically mark them in order to claim possession. I refuse to mark you and I thought that since you were already with child that there was no way that I could impregnate you.” He sighs quietly as he stares at his hands miserably.   
“You thought?” I whisper and my stomach begins to churn as I realize that he’s admitting that he had no idea that whatever happened could even occur, what had happened?  
“Annalise, you are pregnant by both Lukas and I.” He hisses out the words quickly before looking into my eyes.   
I stare into his eyes for a moment as the information sinks in and I can fully grasp what he’s saying. What did he mean that I was pregnant by both him and Lukas? Would the baby have two biological fathers? Was that even possible? I blink at him as I try to process my thoughts before turning to look at Lukas in confusion. He stares at me with a blank expression on his face for a while before giving me the information that I was so clearly missing.   
“Anna, you’re having twins.” He states this while looking into my eyes.   
I feel myself beginning to shake as the news makes its mark on my already fragile emotions, tears start to build up as my mind starts to think in overtime. Thoughts fly through my mind so quickly that not only do I feel shocked, but overwhelmed as well. When I had discovered that I was pregnant by Lukas, I knew that I was changing history. I had never anticipated that by sleeping with Remus, that I would be making such a large change in the timeline. Anxiety claws its way into my mind as I begin to truly cry, not only for the fact that the world that I had grown up in was truly gone and I had been the one to cause it, but also for the simple fact that I had become pregnant with twins.   
“Superfetation is extremely rare in muggles, but common in the magical world, especially when it comes to werewolves.” Severus states as Remus pushes himself in front of Sirius in order to take both of my hands in his. “The Potter child and the Lupin child will have to be born on the same day, which means that one of the babies will be born at least nine weeks early.” He finishes his explanation calmly but I can barely hear a word that he’s saying because of the ringing in my ears. I close my eyes in the hopes that it will push some of the anxiety away, but it doesn’t help.   
“Please, Annalise, please calm down.” Remus mummers beside me, “I am never leaving you, you and the babies are going to be fine, because you’ll have all three of us taking care of you.” He assures me of this softly as he brings my hands to his lips and starts to kiss them gently.   
“Three?” I question him weakly and I’m sure that if I spoke any louder than what I did that my voice would have cracked.   
“Lukas, Sirius, and I. Sweetheart, we’re here and none of us are leaving.” Remus whispers softly and I feel him wiping my tears away with him thumb a second later.   
I lean into Remus’s hand, allowing him to wipe my tears as they came, because it calmed me down somewhat. After my tears dry up and I stop shaking, I breathe in as deeply as I can before opening my eyes. I look first into Remus’s hazel orbs, before switching to the icy blue’s of Lukas, and finally landing on the molten steel of the one that had become so close to leaving me in the first place.   
“Even you?” I ask him quietly and he flinches at my question and takes a breath before trying to speak.   
“Even me, Anna. Never, I will never leave you.” He speaks this softly, maintaining eye contact the entire time even though I can see that it hurt him that I even asked.   
“What are you talking about?” Severus asks suddenly and I flinch at the realization that everyone was still in the room. “Isn’t Black the one that stayed with you to begin with?” he questions and I look at my hands which are still encased in Remus’s overly large ones.   
“Yes, he is. We’ve just been recently going through a delicate time and I’ve lost my trust.” I whisper the truth out into the open and Sirius stiffens beside me.   
“You’ve lost your trust?” His question slices through to me at the core and I shut my eyes before the tears begin to fall once more.   
“I think we need to give you guys some alone time.” Lukas mutters quietly before motioning for Severus to follow him out of the room.   
As the door shuts behind them, I feel as if I’m suddenly trapped in a situation that I can no longer get out of. I wanted so badly not to talk about this right now, to just avoid it until I was at least physically healthy again, that I refused to be the first one to speak. This, of course, resulted in an incredibly tense and drawn out silence.   
“You’ve lost your trust?” Sirius repeats the question and I try to set up in the bed, Remus helps to prop me up without saying a word.   
“You promised that you wouldn’t leave.” I mummer and look down at my stomach only to realize that my hands were lying protectively over it.   
“I didn’t leave. I would never have left you. Anna, you’ve got to believe me.” His voice is gentle and pleading and I can tell that he means what he’s saying.   
“You wrote back to her though.” I point out softly.   
“I wish you’d read some of the things that I wrote to her. It would make you feel so much better.” He whispers but I shake my head without having to think about it.   
“I don’t want to think about it anymore to be honest.” I admit and look up to see Sirius looking down at me with such a wounded expression.   
“What?” He asks me quietly and I blink up at him for a moment.   
“It’s just, I’ve come to the conclusion that if you wanted to leave me then you wouldn’t have taken the time to come and be here with me now.” I whisper and he nods in agreement.   
“I just want to be with you, I want to help you and the babies get better.” He mummers and glances up at Remus. “Remus and I are here for you for good, Anna.” He adds gently and takes one of my hands in his.   
“He’s right you know, Sirius, Lukas, and I are all here for you. You’re kind of stuck with us.” Remus smirks and leans down, kissing my forehead gently. “I’m going to go and see if Mrs. P would be willing to make you some breakfast.” He whispers against my skin before leaving Sirius and I alone.   
It’s quiet for a moment, but I tug on the hand that Sirius is holding so that he knows that I want his attention. When I pat the bed, Sirius starts to protest but I cut him off before he can even say anything.   
“Please? Nothing bad is going to happen if you just hold me.” I assure him and he sits on the edge of the bed slowly.   
“If I hurt you tell me.” He insists before lying beside me and pulling me against his chest easily.   
“Hmm.” I sigh gently and relax into his arms as best as I can with him still being tense.   
“Anna?” he asks gently and I look up so that I can see his face.   
“Yea?” I answer and his eyes look into mine for a moment, I can see that he’s about to say something completely important and I give him a small smile encouragingly.   
“Annalise Elaine Snape—soon-to-be Lupin-Black—I am completely and irrevocably in love with you.” The moment that he says those words, it feels as if all of the air is sucked out of me and I get light-headed for the moment.   
“Oh…Sirius.” I mummer softly and he kisses my cheek gently as tears well in my eyes. “I love you too.” The tears start to fall, but for once, I’m smiling through them.   
XXX  
I’m sitting on a couch in the sitting room reading a book full of names when Remus comes into the room quietly. He sits beside me and waits until I finish the page before speaking, going as far to take the book from me and sitting it down on the table. I watch him as he turns to me on the couch and takes my hands in his.   
“Remus?” I ask curiously and he gives me a gentle smile that tells me that this would be a good conversation.   
“It’s only four more days until we head back to Hogwarts and your showing quite a bit now.” He whispers, his eyes glancing down at the noticeable bump before continuing. “We’ve been speaking—all of us—and everyone agrees that you’re going to need something extra in order to avoid most of the rumors.” I blink, not entirely understanding what he’s saying, but nod anyways. “Annalise, I always thought that I’d be the first to do this, but I never thought that you’d be giving me such a gift so early into our relationship. That, being said, it isn’t right for me to be the one that does everything first with you and in all honesty, Sirius and you deserve this.” He whispers and curiosity starts to gnaw at me from the inside.  
He keeps my hands as he stands up and he pulls me up to stand as well, giving me a gentle smile and a quick kiss on the forehead before turning me around. I inhale quickly, a squeak coming from my mouth as I realize what is happening. Sirius gives me a gentle smile from his position on the floor and I feel like crying from how sincere he looks.   
“Anna, when you came into my life, I never would have thought that we’d make it this far. You were just this girl that my brother offered to take in while she healed, but every day that I was around you…I fell for you more and more. I love you Anna, you are my world. Our relationship’s been a rollercoaster but Remus and I, we both love you so much and we don’t ever want you to be in pain again. Annalise, I love you and I want to prove that to you for the rest of our lives—will you marry me?” he speaks so softly and gently with his eyes shining so uniquely that I’m swept away by the emotions that I feel when he finishes speaking.   
Snippets of our relationship appear in my mind and I find myself weighing the positives and the negatives against each other quickly. It was strange, not that I thought about it, that mine and Sirius’s relationship had so many good moments and only one truly bad moment. I can’t help but to smile as I hear him saying that he loved me for the first time and remembering what it felt like when he kissed me that very, very first time.   
“Yes. Oh, Sirius, yes!” I can’t help but to squeal slightly as he stands up from his knee.   
I throw my arms around his waist in excitement and pull him as close to me as I can without squishing my stomach in the process. He picks me up and spins me around before putting me back on my feet and kissing me gently—all the while with a genuine smile on his face. I hear cheering in the background, but I’m preoccupied with Sirius’s lips against mine until he pulls away and hugs me close to his body. A moment later, he pulls away from me completely and picks my left hand up. I watch as he slides the ring on my finger, still more in disbelief that he had proposed than anything else.   
“I hope you like it—I can always go back to the vault and choose another.” He whispers to me, but I shake my head quickly.   
The simple white gold band held two small rubies on each side of the larger diamond setting. It was so simple and enjoyable, that it represented our relationship perfectly. Things had recently been complex and a little hard to deal with, but it always solved itself rather easily and it only made our connection stronger afterwards. A hand on my back tells me that Remus is behind me.   
“Remus, look!” I swivel on my heels and thrust my hand out so that he can see the ring and can’t help but to giggle in excitement.   
“I know, silly, I helped him choose it.” He teases me slightly, but I can’t stop smiling as he leans in to kiss the tip of my nose.   
XXX  
Three days, I had been in a blissfully happy mood for all of three days before nerves got the best of me. Which to be entirely honest, was completely and utterly nonsense, because I’d already been to Hogwarts and knew everything about the castle, but that wasn’t what worried me—it was the people. I would be going to school, rubbing elbows so to speak, with people that I already identified as heroes and villains, even if they hadn’t done anything wrong yet. My sorting, I have to admit, scared me more than the first time ever had because I knew that there could be a chance that I’d be separated from Remus and Sirius. Harry had once told me that the hat had listened to what he wanted and that’s why he was put in Gryffindor to begin with… but would the hat listen to me? Sirius and Lukas had made a trip to get the required school materials the day before and now all that was left was to wait. The door opens as I’m contemplating my future and I don’t bother to turn over to look at who’s come in, I felt safer here in the Potter’s home than ever before.   
“How are you feeling love?” Remus asks me gently as he situates himself so that he’s lying on his side behind me before pulling me back against his chest.   
“Sort of nauseous, more nervous than anything.” I admit and he chuckles softly before giving me a kiss on the back of my neck.   
“You’ll be fine. Everyone will love you sweetheart.” He assures me softly, “Besides if they don’t, they’ll have to experience the wrath of the Marauders and Severus and Regulus.” He adds and I can’t help but to giggle at him.


End file.
